prairieHOMEliving

History has worn a deep rift in the second amendment..

2012-02-25T05:51:00.015-08:00

The Second Amendment's meaning is now mired in hundreds of years of defense
and objection.

What makes the Second Amendment unusual is that it has a
justification clause as well as an operative clause.

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security
of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be
infringed."

Its meaning depends on who you talk to. The National Rifle Association has the Second Amendment (minus the militia clause or justification clause) engraved on its headquarters building in Washington.

Now there’s an example of cherry picking original intent if I’ve ever seen it.

William Blackstone, a Jeffersonian constitutional theorist living in the early 1800’s,
believed that the original intent of the clause was to reflect the British Bill of
Rights, which when first adopted was intended to protect the right to bear arms
confined to Protestants. The qualifier was that those who killed game according
to the law did not have the right to keep a gun in their house for any other purpose.

The misconception that our forefathers were a bunch of
gun-toting hit men has been the result of historians measuring our country’s
progression in terms of events associated with confrontations/ battles, not in terms of
colonial farming or the accomplishments of women.
This is particularly true because male dominated history reflected much of
what occurred before women were allowed a historical voice.

Puritans in Colonial Massachusetts, unlike Pilgrims in Jamestown, did not bear arms,
other than for the purpose of sustenance because they were committed to a life based
on biblical teachings. Remember, the sixth commandment, "Thou shall not kill." One
would have to ask all the " biblical absolutists," who are generally speaking the same
language as "constitutional originalists" how in the heck have they
rationalized adulterating the intent of these words, and others related to
the taking of lives, for so long?

Forest and Game laws of the British code forbid the people to bear arms other
than for the purpose of sustenance. So strict were these laws, that few, if any, could
keep a gun without being subject to penalties. The period of repression during and
following the Reformation resulted in both the American and British Bill of
Rights.

Through the years, the perception of our Pilgrim heritage has evolved into a distorted
anecdotal characterization of heavy gun use even though Puritan Pilgrim society
represented the antithesis of a gun obsessed culture, rather they typified a true example
of representational government provided by the Mayflower Compact and a life
based on their religious beliefs.

When William Bradford’s journal was rediscovered in the
1850’s on the eve of the Civil War it summoned a national patriotism unrivaled
since the Revolutionary War. Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national Holiday
and expressed the sentiment that the country “needed the Pilgrims; they
reminded us of our roots,” he said, and a “simpler time when everything was
good and cooperative and they were all heroes.” Ironically, Lincoln’s address
was a Presidential call to arms that torched America’s patriotism and
willingness to bear arms.

The Pilgrims seeded roots in the new land beginning with
forty years of good and cooperative times. But history reveals their inability
to cope with the multi-ethnic differences that came with an increased population
and what would ultimately result in distance from their Puritan beliefs and the
Mayflower Compact.

Some historians consider the anecdotal evidence of gun
use through letters as so much overstatement. The notion of the Massachusettes
Colony as an “armed fortress where each male communicant worshipped with a
gun at his side,” fails to correlate with number of guns included in the Mayflower
manifest, or the prohibition and penalty for possessing them. There are lots of
relevant questions related to the existence and prevalence of guns in Colonial
Times that have been thrown to the trash heap of unwanted facts.

1. Gun powder, shot and the guns themselves would have
had to come from illegal trade.
2. There were no gunsmiths in the Colonies, only
blacksmiths.
3. The unreliability and difficulty of using guns would
have made gun ownership a rarity.
5. Cash and possession poor Colonials would have a
difficult time paying or even trading for a flintlock.
6. Ninety-five percent of the early Colonists were
farmers, not trappers or militia.

In the Heller case, Anthony Scalia, a strict "orginalist" wrote “Nothing in the
opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions
on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the
carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or
laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."

This paragraph from Justice Scalia, the foremost proponent of constitutional originalism, runs counter to the prevailing justifications that the second amendment condones and supports gun use by any and all Americans, anywhere, anytime. True, the Founders imposed gun control, (though gun lobbyists and gun rights activists would disagree) but they had no laws resembling Scalia’s list of Second Amendment exceptions.

The founders clearly had no laws banning guns in sensitive places, or laws prohibiting the mentally ill from possessing guns, or laws requiring commercial gun dealers to be
licensed. Such restrictions are products of the 20th century.

Justice Scalia is, in fact, embracing a living Constitution.

The Heller opinion is a reflection of the "ironies and contradictions—and the selective use of the past—that run throughout America’s long history with guns.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/8608/

More to come…

Taking the kick out of violence…will gun bill get its trigger locked?

2012-02-20T09:39:00.001-08:00

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MNGOP, the time machine that won’t quit, wants to send us back to the Middle-ages or the American Wild West when “Castle Law” ruled. (English common law rules protecting
a person's home, “one's home is one's castle.”)

The law gives license to use deadly force, more than what Minnesota currently provides
to law enforcement officers, with less review.

Twenty-nine states have some form of Castle Doctrine/ Defense of
Habitation in place with Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire,
Washington and Virginia considering adopting similar statutes.

In other states the “Castle Law” is viewed as redundant because they have
common laws that apply. Wikipedia’s definition of Common Law (also known as case
law or precedent) is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar
tribunals rather than through legislative statues or executive
branch.

Minnesota Statute 609.065 says this about the justifiability of taking life:
“The intentional taking of the life of another is not authorized by section 609.065,
except when necessary in resisting or preventing an offense which the actor reasonably
believes exposes the actor or another to great bodily harm or death, or
preventing the commission of a felony in the actor's place of abode.”

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.065

H.F. No. 1467 the proposed Minnesota Defense of Dwelling and
Person Act is “shoot first, ask questions later” legislation that would
change 609.065 by delimiting the authority of public officials to disarm
individuals at any time as well as creating a presumption in the case of a
person unlawfully entering a dwelling or occupied vehicle by stealth or force.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said
HR 1467 would "encourage the use of deadly force as a first response to
danger. Taking a human life should be the last resort."

The Minnesota Defense of Dwelling and Person Act would eliminate the duty to
retreat outside the home and would authorize the good faith use of force against an
assailant until the danger ends. In addition, the bill expands the definition
of a dwelling to include any permanent or temporary overnight accommodations
(e.g. vehicle, boat, hotel, etc.), as well as the area immediately surrounding
the home.

The endless scenarios for why this approach is problematic should weigh heavily on its supporters, right?

Wrong.

Who are they?

This bill is a top national legislative priority for the NRA according to their web site.
The bill is also supported by the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, and gun
supporters who stand by a “Shoot First,” and ask questions later, mentality.

How do you shoot someone in “Good faith?” It’s Oxymoronic.

“Good faith” is a subjective term that implies honesty, fairness, and
lawfulness of purpose, absence of any intent to defraud, act maliciously, or
take unfair advantage. In the context of situational/perceived aggression, a
mistaken identity, motive or intent can be misconstrued resulting in the loss
of life.

But, the wording in 609.065 "reasonable belief" allows room for an instinctive reaction.

So which is it? Shoot in "good faith," or shoot only if you "reasonably believe" you
are defending yourself and family from potential aggression? Even though the language
appears similar, HR 1467 is out on a limb in that it gives legal authority for the use
of deadly force as a first response.

“All of Minnesota’s law enforcement and prosecutors
are against the bill," according to a Star Tribune article quoting
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman at a State Capitol news conference.
Freeman said, "We unanimously oppose this bill."

Governor Mark Dayton told WCCO he usually sides with law
enforcement, but hopes that some compromise could be agreed on.

How did our local state legislators vote on the bill?

Kirk Stensrud (R) 42A voted FOR H F 1467

Jenifer Loon (R) 42B voted FOR H F 1476

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/votes/votes.asp?ls_year=87&session_number=0&year=2011&id=339

David Hann (R ) voted
FOR HF 1476

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2012/02/minnesota-nra-backed-omnibus-pro-gun-bill-moving-to-the-state-senate-floor.aspx

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/121751354.html

Don’t call it a failure of communication; call it human fallibility…

2012-02-12T03:20:00.000-08:00

At the February EPHRDC meeting a local conservative activist in attendance was called
out for being racist in front of the entire commission and audience.

That’s the naming I was talking about in the previous post.

Naming elected officials, people running for public office, or people
directly involved in taking a position or action that will change people’s
lives is one thing, but vilifying someone because they have another opinion, is quite
another. And that’s exactly what this person has been actively doing for years.

It’s the kind of naming I have been unwilling to do,
especially for the purpose of retaliation.

Keeping in mind this person has a penitent for mixing politics with
personal destruction, one expected that their reaction to being named would
be as combative as their rhetoric.

Unfortunately there’s a surplus of trash talkers in the political realm whose
gotcha remarks, put-downs, and invective against people unlike them is an
unfortunate reality.

Nevertheless this person’s comeuppance was due.

Finally they’ve been called out for aiding and abetting
the hate-talk against Krull and the K-6 school boundary changes.

My interest in the community has never been about personalities,
but about the issues that affect us all. The issues themselves are paramount,
not personal attacks which have nothing whatsoever to do with anything, other
than someone or some group’s need to bully.

This is so prevalent amongst politicians and the media it’s poisoned the
current political debate. If people can’t argue an issue on its own merits
without all the back-fence defaming, then they’re just the same as all the
co-contributors of our dysfunctional political culture that’s poisoned honest
dialogue between people who disagree.

Bad-mouthing and impugning the motives and character of people
you don’t agree with, by spreading misinformation is malicious.

There is a distinct difference between discussing and talking about
the actions of others and defaming their character, their profession and or
business via slander or other means, because you don’t agree with them.

Not so surprisingly when our community bullies heard that their derisive remarks on

Facebook and other online media would be aired at a local coffee house and on

YouTube they reacted angrily.

I’m not sure either local paper reported this news?

Finally the toxic environment of character assassination and personal destruction
has been put before the Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission.

It should serve as a reminder to us all that what Mayor Jeanne Harris attempted
to do in the 90’s by creating the Eden Prairie Manifesto requires ongoing vigilance.

February 2012 EP Human Rights & Diversity Commission Meeting

2012-02-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

The Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission, EPHRDC, met Thursday

night in the lower level offices at the Eden Prairie Center.

Susan Berg was the first to make what was one of several presentations

to the commission.

Berg’s presentation was for the sole purpose of re-wording, “tweaking” is the word

she used, the Eden Prairie Manifesto, adopted in 1993 by the Eden Prairie Council.

Berg referred to the Manifesto as a “historical” document intended to address the

troubling racial issues that occurred during Jean Harris’ tenure

as Mayor of Eden Prairie.

The first word she wanted to change was in the first paragraph, “foster.” She

preferred other words like “celebrate, support or welcome.” Her take is

that you can’t “foster” diversity, “in a community it has to be a state of being.”

Red Flag.

“Foster,” means to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage: to

foster new ideas.”

The purpose of the Manifesto was to put on record that all members of our community, “businesses, government, educational and religious institutions” are

responsible for fostering “freedom, security and dignity” to each and every one

of us, despite our differences.

Fostering a community of "freedom, security and dignity" was a goal in 1993 and it's

still the goal in 2012, though Berg contends that the need for the Eden Prairie
Manifesto is not as critical today as it was in 1993.

Back then there were cross burnings, now there are parents refusing to go to a school

in a neighborhood they refer to as a “little brown island.”

Where has Berg been for the last year?

She also objected to the long list of words in the opening paragraph saying that they

“overwhelmed,” and indicated negatives, EEO verbiage, things that

separate us,” e.'g. "religious affiliation, race, ethnic heritage, gender, age,

sexual orientation, phsical or mental ability or economic status."

Berg didn’t tweak, she rewrote the first paragraph, eliminating what might be

some of the most important words in the document “responsible”and “foster,”

which clearly state from the get-go, not as an afterthought, that as a community we

are all responsible for fostering/promoting equality.

The Manifesto’s first paragraph is explicit in that it names those who are targeted
for their differences: “religious affiliations, race, ethnic heritage, gender, age, sexual

orientation, physical or mental ability or economic status.”

By removing specificity from the first paragraph to the last and eliminating the words
“responsibility” and "fostering," the effect is a watering down of the Manifesto’s ultimate purpose, which is to name, to unambiguously put on record for everyone to see

and to ask the entire community to take responsibility for upholding the

values of “freedom, dignity and security.”

In spite of Eden Prairie's Manifesto we have local state legislators maligning its

intent/message by advocating state constitutional amendments that are, in fact,

anti- freedom, anti-dignity, anti-equality.

The Voter ID bill makes it more difficult for the elderly, the disadvantaged, students, and
others to vote and the Marriage Amendment defines marriage on the basis of
religious definitions. Both are discriminatory.

Why would Berg want to rewrite the Manifesto, now? What are her motives aside from

her technical writing and marketing background? Most marketing copywriters would tell

you the most important message, key words, should go first, up-front, not last.

It’s interesting to note that the Eden Prairie Manifesto was just reaffirmed

by the Eden Prairie City Council recently on January 16th, 2012.

However this was not done by resolution.
http://www.edenprairie.org/vCurrent/upload/contents/228/Human%20Rights%20Award%20EP%20Manifesto.pdf

In 1958 Eleanor Roosevelt made the following appeal to the United Nations
Human Rights Committee:

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?
In small places, close to home so close and so small that they cannot be seen
on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: the
neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm
or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child
seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.
Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.
Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in
vain for progress in the larger world. “

Eleanor Roosevelt absolutely captured the spirit and intent of the Eden Prairie

Manifesto back in the 50s.

Jeff Strate made the second presentation to the EPHRDC which is online at

Scribd at the link below.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81185451/Jeff-Strate-2-9-12

Strate asked that the EPHRC to consider two things as they pertain to the

Eden Prairie Manifesto:

1. Recommend to the City of Eden Prairie that it investigate, evaluate and
select ways that the City (on its own and in partnership with other organizations) can

effect on-going programs and policy to reduce prejudice and defacto housing
segregation and promote cross-cultural and economic class, ethnic and racial
understanding empathy.

2. Recommend to the Eden Prairie City Council
to reconfirm by resolution its support for the Eden Prairie Manifesto.
The Eden Prairie Manifesto addressed 1993 issues that are still reverberating in our

community and all over the nation. Revealing excerpts including quotes from blogs and
Facebook pages of parents against the redistricting plan which indicate that
intolerance, hatred and prejudice are still alive and thriving in our city.

This kind of hate talk has been going on since the school administration and

school board contemplated boundary changes. Yet it went unnoticed by our two

local papers.

One local paper inserted itself into the melee by insisting it had the right to unfettered

access to the schools at all times and by conducting a first-ever city debate

related to the school board election.

The intense scrutiny of the school administration was not matched by any revelation

by either paper as to the language and motives of those parents opposed to the

boundary changes. Both of our local papers were equally silent, failing to present

all sides of the story, failing to name those people involved in ongoing

personal attacks, and distortions.

As indicated by the comments made and actions taken against the boundary changes

during the past year, there was an "us" against "them" atmosphere which got noticed in educational circles nationally. But ironically, not by our local Eden Prairie papers.

Naming is everything. It gives context and meaning to what we must know. Naming

has a history and a purpose. Naming is power.

More to come...

Catching Carp at Staring Lake, Eden Prairie

2012-02-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

Update Leslie Stovring Eden Prairie Parks Department-

Out of 25,000 carp the DNR had hoped to catch 7,000, instead they netted an old sail boat and only 700 carp. The DNR tags and tracks them. The carp tend to cluster in winter, so this is the best time to catch them.

Winterkill happens when there's a accumulation of snow so not enough light gets through: the result is lots of fish die off.

There were areas on the lake that didn't appear frozen and wide swathes,

particularly near the shore, that had a thick crust of ice.

According to the guide at the DNR the ice has to be 12" to 15" for a medium truck.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/ice/thickness.html

Evidently the days the DNR had equipment on the ice it was 11" thick.

Other Links:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/ice/thickness.html http://www.baitnet.com/states/minnesota_baitshops.php http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticanimals/commoncarp/index.html

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/westmetro/fishkills.html

Coming Up Asteraceae

2012-02-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

This Aster is more complex and contradictive than it lets on.

Daisy Jane Smithie, she or he, is a blogger at Open Salon. (name stands for quintessential Americanness)

What’s a name without a flowerhead? ( A real name and face.)

Bellis perennis, it’s just your common flower, right?

Nah, it’s a "day's eye" that only opens during the day and closes up at night.

Oopsy-daisy… for sure it’s no Tussie Mussie … what we have here is a mole.

A Daisy could have up to 89 petals, or 89 words of praise, so we're surprised she/he has only 12 irritants, busy little pollinators breeding doubt (what our President is doing wrong) from one propigator to the next.

Vascular Wilt the problem? Nah, just a provocateur who wants FAR WORSE officials than Obama to be elected by good citizens who do not vote.

Yes, Daisy actually suggests we should not vote. Really!

That’s un-Daisy-like.

This all sounds vaguely familiar: Americans were discouraged from
voting via literacy tests, poll taxes, than finally we got the Right to vote
Act in 1965… BTW that’s 95 years after the 15th amendment was ratified.

Now they’re (conservatives) at it again nationwide with the Voters ID amendment.

In Minnesota AARP, the League of Women Voters and the Minnesota Council of Non-profits will testify against.

Shovels Ready "traditionalists" dump-on "Popular Vote"

2012-01-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

Just imagine this scenario...there would be more votes to count in the event of a recount if there was a national popular vote. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called it a "catastrophic outcome, a national crisis."

"Less is more" is the motto of Conservative traditionalists. They say the Constitution is a “doctrine of tradition” which established the Electoral College. So get ready, because they’re going to dump-on the “Popular Vote.”

If there was a National Popular Vote, for the first time in our nation’s history candidates would make their campaign pitches to all the states instead of focusing on the states with the most electoral votes that favor their candidacy.

The founding fathers despite their penitent for amassing wealth and slaves, were aware that the ultimate power resided in the hands of the people and thus the “Popular Vote” personifies the right that gives people the ability to “alter or abolish any form of government that becomes destructive…” in this case the Electoral College.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life,Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter, or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.

Beginning of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776.

What's wrong with the Electoral College?

It represents a “minority” consensus, apportioned state-by-state reflecting disproportionate voting power by some states, in a winner-takes-all distribution.

What’s referred to as “traditional” representation is not democratic in that it does not represent the will of the people. What it does represent is a particular well known inflexibility, i.e. an inability/resistance to growth/change with the times.

Federalism supports the transfer of power from central authorities to local units, such as states. And the state allocation of Electoral College vote is based on political predilections not representative of the people of the state, but the influence of political majorities in power at the time.

Presently the national popular vote does not determine the outcome of an election. Thus candidates base their campaign strategies around the Electoral College. So in essence your vote, my vote is meaningless, because candidates are directly appealing to swing states, not national popular votes. Debates are held in swing states, e.g. Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, Florida.

Conservative traditionalists embrace a kind of reverse logic where the minority, in this case the Electoral College, consisting of 270 votes, trumps 130 million (in 2008) popular votes.

Counterintuitive!

Conservative traditionalists want politically chosen electors to pick the President, not the rest of us, and that's about 14 million or so U.S. voters.

The Republican speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Kurt Zellers told MPR that voting is not a right.

Is this counter-constitutional or what?

What about the 15^th and 19^thamendments? Are they not part of the American “tradition?”

Evidently conservative "traditionalists" think not.

Believe or Not: Lawrence Auster, a leading far-right conservative author actually questions the voting privilege afforded women by the 19^th amendment.

Russell Kirk, American political theorist and author of the “Conservative Mind” defined the “conservative tradition” as embracing inherited traditions and practices. An ideological style of politics, one which would allow each vote to count, according to "traditionalists" supposes an alternative order characterized by reason, mostly independent of tradition.

Reason is clearly not a "traditionalist" faculty.

Conservative "traditionalists” support hierarchies/patriarchies that spurn equality and endorse social stratification. The recent protests of populist grassroots movements, e.g. Occupy and 99 per cent, are fighting against the power of 1% influence, major banks and multinational corporations (corporatism and social injustice), and the unreasonableness of corporations being granted personhood.

In 1987 marking the 200^th anniversary of the Constitution, Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall said, “I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever ‘fixed’ at the Philadelphia Convention.”

Amendments to the Constitution reflect the evolution of a country and its people to augment a document and eliminate barriers to change and progress.

A recent local example of this "less-is-more," going-backward thinking (historical example Poll Taxes) is a bill sponsored by Republican legislators to require Voter IDs in Minnesota.

The elderly, seniors, college students and military personnel, who do not have a Minnesota Driver’s license, would be excluded from participation if they did not have an official government-issued identification card, even if they are legally eligible to vote.

Where do our local legislators stand on the “Popular Vote” and the Voter ID requirement?

Contact them:

Rep Jennifer Loon-

651-296-7449

rep.jenifer.loon@house.mn

Sen David Hann-

651-296-1749

Rep Kirk Stensrud

651-296-3964

rep.kirk.stensrud@house.mn

Amend Citizens United: because only people are people

2012-01-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

Minnesota

Let's get to work!

We'll be calling on the Minnesota state legislature to put a question on the ballot about a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United -- which would allow all Minnesota voters to make their voices heard on this issue! (The state of Minnesota does not have a ballot initiative process.)

Here are some materials to help you get started. If you'd like to be a leader in your community, or just connect with one of our national organizers to learn more, please sign up for our Constitution Crew!

Amend2012.org Toolkit (additional pieces to be added soon)

Frequently Asked Questions: Fast Answers to Common Questions about Amend2012

Petition: Gather Signatures at Neighborhood Events, Town Hall Meetings and More!

Flier: Print it out and Spread the Word!

Stickers: Who Doesn't Love Stickers? Print these on Avery's White Oval Labels - product number 22804.

Guide to Meeting with Your Legislators: How to Lobby for a Constitutional Amendment
(Need to find the names and contact information of your elected officials? Look them up here!)
Model Ballot Measure: Sample Language for a Resolution Reversing Citizens United

Social Media Strategies: Organizing Online to Support Amend2012

http://www.amend2012.org/site/c.8qKOJXMvFaLUG/b.7948751/k.ED2F/Minnesota.htm

Open Congress joins Google, Wikipedia, others to oppose PIPA

2012-01-18T07:09:00.000-08:00

Google Logo Blacked Out

s o p a p i p a

OpenCongress joined the global online action to protest the PIPA net censorship bill. They've voluntarily limited access to their site -- except for pages about how the systemically-corrupt U.S. Congress is ramming through PIPA, the worst Internet legislation in history.

If you use OpenCongress, call the D.C. offices of your U.S. senators now and speak out strongly against PIPA -- phone numbers and talking points are available on their whip-count page.

Since 2007, the Participatory Politics Foundation has worked as Congressional watchdogs, operating OpenCongress as a free, open-source, non-partisan Web resource. Their non-profit mission is to encourage public education about what's happening in the U.S. Congress and peer-to-peer communication about political issues. PIPA poses an existential threat to OpenCongress' public-benefit mission. By establishing a terrible legal framework for net censorship in the U.S., it threatens free political speech online and the very existence of sites like OpenCongress that aggregate & display data from a variety of publicly-available sources.

For more information and to join today's protest WED, JAN 18th , please see:http://sopastrike.com

The Participatory Politics Foundation is a founding member of the American Censorship coalition to keep the Web open and fight SOPA / PIPA:http://americancensorship.org
The most important thing you can do today is tocall your two U.S. Senators and protest PIPA.
Additional resources

Protect IP Act (S. 968):Main Bill Page|Money Trail|Full Bill Text|Comments
With Contact-Congress on OpenCongress, over6,100 emailshave been sent by constituents to their three members of Congress, overwhelmingly in opposition to PIPA.

Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261):Main Bill Page|Money Trail|Full Bill Text|Comments
While PIPA is the Senate version, SOPA is the U.S. House version.
With Contact-Congress on OpenCongress, over28,000 emailshave been sent by constituents to their three members of Congress, overwhelmingly in opposition to SOPA.

... in total, over 35,687 emails have been sent via OpenCongress since SOPA & PIPA were introduced, overwhelmingly in opposition.

OpenCongress will return in full later this evening (Wednesday, January 18th).

Questions? Feedback? Press? Email: drm at ppolitics d0t org, donny at opencongress d0t org

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/2461-Six-GOP-Co-Sponsors-of-PIPA-Ask-Reid-to-Cancel-Vote

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TpZJA9EIPY

K- 6 versus K- 4: what educational researchers say

2012-01-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (2002) data on grade span by state, for the school year 2000-2001 indicates a plethora of school configurations in the United States: K-3, K-4, K-5, K-6, K-8, K-9, or K-12, middle schools, junior high schools, and senior high schools. And still others consist of students in just one grade, such as a kindergarten center or a ninth-grade center. Some schools include pre-kindergarten.

What model works best? The pros and cons are varied, but as they pertain to the K-6 vs K-4 model most studies seem to correlate with the findings that suggest “the relatively protected elementary school setting made the entry into adolescence less stressful for both boys and girls. The students who had not had the stress of the earlier transition seemed to cope better with the transition into high school than did other students.” (Simmons & Blyth, 1987).

http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/poptopics/gradeconfig.html

This is borne out by numerous studies which indicate an overall decline in academic performance after the transition to middle level schools. "Petersen and Crockett (1985) examined school records of 335 young adolescents. Their data indicated a significant drop in academic performance at seventh grade, which was the transition year for the students in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Blyth, Simmons, and Carlton-Ford (1983) found a general decline in grade-point average (GPA) for students across grades six through ten. The most dramatic drop in GPA, however, was for students who experienced a school transition between grades six and seven.

A portion of the subjects in the study attended the same elementary school through grade eight while the others moved from an elementary school to a junior high after grade six. The students moving to the junior high school had GPAs significantly lower than the cohort at the K-8 school during their seventh grade year, a result similar to the achievement test scores reported by Gronna(1998). Crockett, Petersen, Graber, Schulenberg, and Ebata (1989) examined the situation in which young adolescents made two school transitions before reaching high school. When comparing the academic performance of these students to others who had but one transition, the two-transition group’s GPAs were consistently lower.

Achievement scores have been shown to be affected by the context of the transition to the middle level. Alspaugh and Harting (1997) found that students who were grouped into interdisciplinary teams during their transition year performed significantly better on standardized achievement tests than students who were in departmentalized schools. Fenzel (1992) reported similar findings, but noted that relatively young students were more vulnerable to declines in GPA than their older classmates. Most at risk for problems at transition were relatively young girls of lower socioeco-nomic status.”

http://www.amle.org/portals/0/pdf/publications/On_Target/transitioning_ms/transitioning_ms_7.pdf

The switch to the middle school model in the 1970’s moved away from the “bridging” paradigm and was still going strong until 2000. But analysis indicated that the transition of younger children from elementary to middle school is not helpful developmentally, socially and academically.

A study of grade configuration and student behavior done by the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, University of California at Berkeley and the NBER, National Bureau of Economic Research focusing on education, peer influence and adolescence, resulted in findings confirming a strong argument against combining sixth graders with older adolescents in a school setting.

The study supported the switch in Eden Prairie from a K-4 model to the current K-6 model, indicating that the earlier shift to a middle school paradigm unwise. Though the study was not done randomly the consistency and strength of the findings suggest that even though there may be other causes, the ones identified accurately reflect many of the problems that exist in early transition to middle schools. Considering that the middle school model began on speculation rather than evidence of its suitability or historically analyzed outcomes suggests that the model is questionable.

Why?

Evidently in an academic sense sixth graders in the elementary school model do better on standardized tests than their counterparts attending middle school. The results show that exposing sixth graders to older students has a negative and lasting impact on their future academic trajectory.

Transitioning less and age appropriately is the ticket according to this study primarily because of changes in social relationships with peers, parents and authority figures.

The gist is that it is easier for a 6^th grader to be the oldest in elementary school than to be the youngest in a middle school. In the K-4 model there is a decline in motivation, self-esteem and academic achievement when younger students transition into higher grades according to the study.

The study’s main focus was to find out why school grade composition affects student outcomes by applying hypothetical causal mechanisms.

1. Social Control Effects- Behavioral problems influenced by the composition of the student body, amount of freedom and the school’s capacity to control behavior.

2. Transition Effect- Student behavior deteriorates in the first year of exposure to new environment.

3. Deviant Peer Influence Effects- Influence by older peers on younger students.

Middle Schools afford more freedom to students and lack the close connections students have with a primary teacher in the elementary school configuration according to their analysis. The middle school model brings younger students in direct contact with older adolescents with more behavioral problems. The biggest concern is that the negative impact of exposing sixth graders to older students remains until ninth grade.

Their findings indicate that exposing sixth graders to middle schools results in a 1 to 3 percent decline in on-time graduation rates.

http://sanford.duke.edu/research/papers/SAN07-01.pdf

The transitional scenario that students are faced with when entering middle school is best described by this response to the Department of Education’s article, “Recognizing Education’s Middle School Syndrome,” When Jamie [a student] gets to middle school, he will go from one teacher – one set of expectations and one way of doing things – to four or five or six different teachers, each with their own set of expectations and challenges. Now Jamie’s [the student’s] mother has six different teachers to stay in contact with and things start to fall through the cracks. In my opinion, we don’t pay nearly enough attention to helping students and parents make the transition into middle school with practical techniques in organization and managing expectations. All of this is piled on top of the already stressful cocktail of hormones and peer pressure that is par for the course in middle school.”

http://www.ed.gov/blog/2011/05/recognizing-education%E2%80%99s-middle-school-syndrome/

What becomes apparent after reading the ongoing conversations about grade configurations is that nostalgia for the past is not the answer. There is no moving back to the old model as suggested by Karla Bratrud in her appeal to parents on her campaign web site. This is borne out in study after study which indicates it is more advantageous to allow children to be in a setting where they can be have more individualized attention, rather than jump into an environment where they will be the youngest at a particularly sensitive time of their development, socially and scholastically.

In a study of grade configurations and student outcomes by Harvard University, Ifo Institute for Economic Research and CESifo done in 2011, the result using an instrumental variable estimation strategy, confirmed that “students moving from elementary to middle school suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year. These achievement drops persist through grade 10. We also find that middle school entry increases student absences and is associated with higher grade 10 dropout rates. Transitions to high school in grade nine cause a smaller one-time drop in achievement but do not alter students’ performance trajectories.”

They report that “[…] students entering middle school in grade 6 or 7 make larger achievement gains prior to middle school entry than those who do not enter middle schools. Moving to middle school, however, causes a substantial drop in their relative performance. Specifically, math achievement falls by 0.124 (0.221) standard deviations and reading achievement falls by0.086 (0.148) standard deviations for transitions at grade 6 (grade 7). These students’ relative performance in both subjects continues to decline in subsequent middle school grades.

http://www.edweek.org/media/gradeconfiguration-13structure.pdf

In an analysis of grade configurations on CEEP’s, Clearing House on Early Education and Parenting’s, (part of the ECAP, Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative) web site, these questions were asked: How do grade configurations affect transitions? Here following are the conclusions which corroborate the results from the aforementioned Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, University of California at Berkeley and the NBER, National Bureau of Economic Research Study.

How do grade configurations affect transitions?

“The division of elementary schools into configurations that include fewer grades requires that students make several transitions from one school to another. Researchers note that transitions can be stressful for students:

Alspaugh (1999) found a significant achievement loss during each transition year. He also found that some students regain what is lost in the following year, but it would seem that students who make fewer transitions need fewer years to make up for achievement losses caused by transitions.

Another study found that each time students switched schools, their feelings of anonymity increased. Researchers who found that sixth-grade students in both elementary and combination K-12 schools outperformed students in middle schools or junior high schools considered the number of transitions a significant factor. This study considered 8 schools with 7 different grade spans with student populations of 82 to 1,200. The schools were located in both urban and rural settings in 5 northwest states. The number of grades in the schools ranged from 1 to 11 (Paglin & Fager, 1997).

Another research study found that girls in early adolescence suffered from a drop in self-esteem, extracurricular participation, and leadership behaviors when they made the transition into middle school or junior high, but not if they remained in an elementary school setting. This study found that the effects of this transition lingered throughout the school years. For boys, the study found similar negative effects in extracurricular participation and grades, but not in self-esteem, when they made the transition into middle school or junior high. The authors concluded that the relatively protected elementary school setting made the entry into adolescence less stressful for both boys and girls. The students who had not had the stress of the earlier transition seemed to cope better with the transition into high school than did other students (Simmons & Blyth, 1987).

Franklin and Glascock (1996) found that sixth-grade boys experienced more suspensions in middle schools or junior high schools than in elementary schools, possibly related to the effects of the transition, the school organization, or school size. This study was based on information gathered from all Louisiana public schools during the 1992-1993 school year.”

http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/poptopics/gradeconfig.html

Looking toward the future the organization of our educational system could change exponentially as society adopts new technologies that will alter the way our children learn.

In “Mind Shift How we will Learn” web site, the article “21 Things That Will Be Obsolete by 2020” number thirteen is about the ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES BY GRADE, the list is clear that change is imminent: “Education over the next ten years will become more individualized, leaving the bulk of grade-based learning in the past. Students will form peer groups by interest and these interest groups will petition for specialized learning. The structure of K-12 will be fundamentally altered.”

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/03/21-things-that-will-be-obsolete-by-2020/

But what will remain the same are the physiological, social and even cognitive changes

that occur during adolescence. This excerpt from a Princeton Brookings “Future of our Children” Journal entry sums up the complex nature of early adolescence: “Few developmental periods are characterized by so many changes at so many different levels as early adolescence, when children face the biological transformations of puberty, the educational transition from elementary to secondary school, and the psychological shifts that accompany the emergence of sexuality. With rapid change comes a heightened potential for both positive and negative outcomes, creating important opportunities for families, schools, and out-of-school programs to interact with adolescents in a way that fosters growth and development.”

http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=48&articleid=232&sectionid=1519

Representative Erik Paulsen has voted consistently against Civil Liberties and Civil Rights in the MN Legislature and in Congress

2012-01-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

Update - NDAA now applies to American Citizens - Take a look at.Erik Paulsen's record against Civil Liberities and Civil Rights. Paulsen's NDAA vote was a given when you consider his voting history on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights.

Here are examples of two pieces of legislation, HJ Res 47, which would require imprisonment for anyone who burned an American flag, which Paulsen cosponsored. This legislation abridges freedom of speech. Where would it stop? First the flag would be decreed something more than a symbol, a sacred object, next it would be the American Eagle, and every symbol of our nation would have an elevated status. There's something horribly barbaric about a society that punishes its citizens with a prison sentence for the destruction of a flag, which represents freedom? We already have overcrowded prisons paid for with taxpayer dollars for people who are a real danger to society.

Paulsen voted against Amendment 35 to HR 2647 which would ensure humane treatment of detainees, thereby he did not vote to support accountability in the military when it comes to ensuring military interrogations are humane.

Basically Paulsen voted to abridge freedom of speech in HJ Res 47 which would be unconstitutional, but he also voted against ensuring humane treatment of prisoners. Both these votes are civil rights and civil liberties issues, which the Bill of Rights clearly defines. Yet, Paulsen voted against them in both cases.

His record on civil rights and liberties issues in the Minnesota Legislature from 2007 to 2009 reflects a no vote on every bill passed. The one bill he supported failed.

http://thatsmycongress.com/house/repPaulsenMN3111.html

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/votetracker/legislator_view.php?id=162

Background-

H.J. Res 47
A law passed to ban the burning of the American flag would be promptly struck down as unconstitutional because the 1st Amendment to the Constitution declares that freedom of speech shall not be abridged. Some consider free speech to be a good thing; others consider it to be an impediment. H.J. Res 47 is a bill before the Senate to remove the pesky impediment of free speech.

H.J. Res 47 would amend the United States Constitution to remove protection for speech that "desecrates" (renders unsacred) the flag of the United States. It would allow people to be thrown in prison for showing disrespect to the American flag.

By declaring the flag to be a sacred object, the sponsors of this constitutional amendment would establish a national civic religion. The dogma of this religion: that it is necessary to dilute actual American freedom in order to protect the symbolic representation of American freedom. Make sense?

Amendment 35 to H.R. 2647

In June of 2009, Congressman Rush Holt introduced Amendment 35 to H.R. 2647 as a countercurrent to the current push for coverup in American military and interrogation activities. Amendment 35 requires military interrogations to be videotaped, with an exception provided at times when there may not be time to set up a camera.

The idea of required videotaping for interrogations is not an external imposition forced upon the military, but an internal recommendation of the Walsh Report in January of 2009, which states:

We endorse the use of video recording in all camps and for all interrogations. The use of video recording to confirm humane treatment could be an important enabler for detainee operations. Just as internal controls provide standardization, the use of video recordings provides the capability to monitor performance and to maintain accountability.

The Holt Amendment passed in a roll call vote by a margin of 224-193.

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Eden Prairie council member Brad Aho disses local in favor of state control

2012-01-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

Republicans are usually all about local control. But in the case of domestic partnerships for Eden Prairie residents, council member Aho has taken a decided U turn, even though the authorization would have little to zero effect on the city’s fiscal environment.

Other cities in Minnesota have adopted domestic partnerships.

The irony is that domestic partnerships provide a substantial return at a minimal cost. In fact private companies leading the way are attracting highly skilled employees because they recognize domestic partnerships. Companies like “American Express; Allina Health System; Barnes and Nobel; Cray Research; Dorsey & Whitney; IBM; ITT Hartford Insurance; HealthPartners, Inc.; LifeUSA Insurance Co.; Minnesota Communications Group (MPR); Northern States Power Company (NSP); Padilla, Speer, & Beardsley; Star Tribune; The St. Paul Companies; YWCA – Minneapolis, all recognize domestic partnerships.

City Manager Rick Getschow said it allows unmarried couples who live in Eden Prairie to document their relationship which helps them receive benefits from a documented domestic partnership.

OutFront Minnesota says, “Explicitly authorizing domestic partner benefits would restore a basic principle of home rule and recognize the right of local units of government, and locally elected public officials, to determine what policies work best in their own areas of the state.”

Aho thinks it’s a states’ issue and a social issue that’s going to be addressed by the state’s voters in November. OutFront Minnesota says, “The important thing to remember is that this is an issue for local government, not the state to decide.”

What’s most telling about the makeup of the current council is that Mayor Tyra Lukens, council members, Case, Butcher Wickstrom and Nelson, who are the majority on the council, refer the action to provide domestic partnerships as an extension of the Eden Prairie Manifesto, not a “defense of marriage,” issue at all, “but the freedom of all Eden Prairie residents,” according to council member Ron Case. Further there are no legal ramifications to domestic partnerships, according to the Mayor.

OutFront Minnesota says [Minnesota’s] laws restrict the ability of certain public employers to offer the same types of benefits that many of Minnesota’s private sector employers offer which prevents them from extending employee benefits to foster children, live-in elderly parents, registered domestic partners, or any other family members.”

While council member Aho was concerned about polygamists signing up for domestic partnerships in Eden Prairie, council member Nelson assured him that the ordinance “affirms that the applicants do not have any other domestic partners and are not married.” The ordinance would apply to both heterosexual or GLBT partners.

Fundamentally speaking council member Aho’s priorities are askew. He’s supposed to be representing the residents of Eden Prairie, not the interests of the MN GOP who proposed The Defense of Marriage amendment to the state constitution in May of last year.To suggest that the council is purposefully trying to undermine or "apply pressure on higher levels of government," is an outlandish accusation.

On August 4, 2010 a United States District Court Judge ruled in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that California's Proposition 8, which bans marriage between people of the same-sex, was unconstitutional. That ruling was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In May 2011, the Minnesota House and Senate passed SF 1308. The bill proposes an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that states that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. The amendment will be voted on in the 2012 election. Although constitutional amendment legislation cannot be vetoed, on May 25, 2011, Governor Dayton issued a "symbolic veto" of Laws of Minnesota 2011, Chapter 88 (SF 1308).

The issue of extending marriage rights to homosexuals continues to be debated throughout the United States. The Human Rights Campaign follows this issue closely and has compiled aRelationship Recognition in the U.S. map.

http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/issues/issues.aspx?issue=gay

Home Rule States-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Rule_in_the_United_States

Newly elected Eden Prairie School Board off to inauspicious start

2012-01-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

As if they are still campaigning, a continuation of the kind of slant and division that propelled their supporters to elect them to undo existing new boundaries, there is no recognition of what’s working, goals that have been met, only mention that all goals were not met.

What’s even more troubling is the apparent lack of discussion of racial inequality that existed at Eden Prairie’s elementary schools before the boundary changes went into effect in September of 2011. Not a mention by the newly elected school board members. This was their first opportunity to show themselves to be representatives of all Eden Prairie parents and children in a joint statement published in one of the local newspapers. However, they failed to do so.

They completely evaded any mention of racial/economic/educational inequity, talking instead about capture rates and reinforcing what they promised before November: they will not conduct themselves in the manner of the previous board. One assumes the two returning board members who share the new board members' opposition to the boundary changes somehow conducted themselves differently than the ousted board members? Really? Why don’t they just say they will conduct themselves exactly like the previous board, but they’ll have a different objective.

And that is to undo what the previous board did.

Accusations that the previous board failed to present the K-6 plan democratically are a misnomer: a stratagem intended to malign and question the legitimacy of the new boundary changes, as if they were speciously forced on parents and students without their consent.

Ridiculous!

What we have here is a failure, not of communication, but of agreement.

Those children impacted by the boundary changes have to take a bus ride in Eden Prairie, instead of walking blocks. Heaven forbid. Their parents and the parents who actually pulled their kids out of EP schools to send them to schools outside of the community, those are the parents who the new school board members are promising a “new loyalty and pride in the schools,” not the parents of children who were isolated at one school because of the dictates of housing/racial/income inequality.

This obvious appeal directed at one focus group de-legitimizes the current new school board’s credibility. And the residual blowback from the angry rancor, the racist talk, accompanied by the threat of a law suit over boundary changes, the removal of Krull and school board members who supported her, can not be forgotten.

Though there are some manipulators/connivers of reality in Eden Prairie who would like us all to believe that no such mean spirited exchanges ever took place in our community. In fact the site where much of this unkindness did take place is apparently MIA.
Correction the Facebook page is up: http://www.facebook.com/groups/EPSBA/

Not surprisingly everyone else is talking about racial inequity at metro schools, but not Eden Prairie’s new school board members.

Myron Orfield, director of the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota, is talking about it; local faith leaders are talking about it; parents, teachers and administrators are talking about it, but not one member of Eden Prairie’s newly elected or returning school board members has the wherewithall to speak up.

You could legitimately make the case that the current school board has already abrogated their responsibility to uphold the US Supreme Court’s 2007 decision, in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1, by not making the problems of social and educational isolation and inequity a primary talking point in their first public statement.

Now the question we should ask them all as they move the process forward:

Will you uphold the US Supreme Court decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1 in Eden Prairie?

Us and Th$m: light blue/white/grey collar job angst

2012-01-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are coming down to the wire in Iowa. What are their plans for rejuvenating the American economy?

To find out you’ve got to navigate the talk, isolate the facts from campaign myths to media minutiae. Somewhere in the mess of macaronics the media says Romney’s on-top, more cash, less up-tight and more relaxed this time around.

And Gingrich is biting dust, trying to turn the other cheek and make his campaign a family affair (oxymoron). Even Fox is giving him a bad rap for flip-flopping on Romney Care. His staff says they haven’t figured it all out yet.

Have you learned anything weighty from these two when it comes to jobs?

Didn’t think so.

Romney promised college students he’d find them jobs if they elect him President. That’s a tall order.

And, if you haven’t attended college? It’s true that white collar worker unemployment figures are loftier, but their wages are also commensurably higher as of updated figures from October 2011 at The PayScale Index/ AOL Jobs.

Romney’s reputation for being a double-sided coin is well documented. He told Fox News he’ll create 11.5 million jobs; conversely ThinkProgress points out that Romney said Obama hasn’t created one job and made the economy worse. The reality is Obama created more jobs in one term than Bush did in eight years. And Romney’s massive fortune came at the expense of workers, stockholders and creditors who lost jobs and money.

Gordon Gekko types, who make out like bandits, while workers get the heave-ho have a partner in Romney. He visited a Marion Indiana company five years ago that had been taken public and filed for bankruptcy, liquidating its assets. Workers lost their jobs, but Bain Capital made more than $100 million from AmPad for itself, its investors, and Romney.

According to a New York Magazine article, “The Romney Economy,” the portion of America’s gross national product that ended up in the hands of workers declined by more than 10 percent between 1979 and 1996; the portion that went to investors rose by a similar amount. A Stanford economist described it this way, “What you end up with is a choice between a bigger cake less equally split and a smaller cake equally split.”

Gingrich’s slide in the polls has produced what his team describes as a new jobs strategy. But the media is more enamored with tidbits like Calista’s penitent for double cappuccinos, his on-and-off-again Regan personae, the difficulty of staying on message and every so often serious things like ethics charges, his cap and trade flip-flop and the oil kick-back he made millions on.

But jobs? Gingrich is really into social engineering: sending colonies of people into space, putting poor children to work as janitors…

Maybe he’s thinking “tie-dye-collar jobs” or “collarless-jobs,” titles everyone could take pride in?

What is the status of a so-called collared worker? Blue Collar workers don’t get pensions and unless they are affiliated with a union, benefits are minimal in comparison to White Collar workers. However, Blue Collar jobs are the cog of the economic engine. Service related jobs and trained technicians, such as carpenters, plumbers, repairmen and machinist are jobs with higher hourly pay, integral to growing an economy. Now the lines between the two, Blue/White are disappearing. Newer jobs and work environments make it difficult to label jobs as belonging to one class or another. Sociologists are considering using the colors grey, or light blue, to create a new working class category.

Do you consider yourself grey? Light blue? Or none of the above, because you’re unemployed?
Or perhaps you’re already participating in the “Great-Speedup,” all work and no pay. Heard of it? Living it?

In “All work and no pay,” MotherJones puts it this way: “what's passed off as the growing pains of a modern economy is—not to go all Marxist on you—simply about redistribution. For 90% of American workers incomes have stagnated or fallen for the past three decades, while they've ballooned at the top, and exploded at the very tippy-top: By 2008, the wealthiest 0.1 percent were making 6.4 times as much as they did in 1980 (adjusted for inflation). And just to further fuel your outrage that 22 percent increase in profits? Most of it accrued to a single industry: finance.”

Gingrich is so busy putting mops in the hands of impoverished black children so custodial workers get paid less, it’s as if he’s revisiting the civil rights era of the 50’s and 60’s and breathing new life into classism and racism.

And as if the revived American Auto Industry hasn’t had enough criticism from the conservative right, at a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, Gingrich channeled unions as the economic culprit. At a Rotary Club appearance he said “It’s a work-rules problem; it’s not an hourly cost problem. You can’t have continuous improvement if you’re not allowed to constantly modify and improve.”

But it’s really a “voting rights problem:” that slippery slope of not just changing rules, but eliminating or handicapping the unions that make them. Republicans wanted every uncast ballot in an election to form a union to result in a no vote. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of the National Mediation Board’s (NMB) decision to allow employees of companies that fall under the Railway Labor Act to form unions if a majority votes in favor. The decision affirmed a ruling reached by a lower court. The FAA Funding Bill stalled over Republican opposition to the union election voting rights resulting in the FAA shutdown last summer.

The radicalization of America under a Gingrich jobs plan would eliminate child labor laws and the right of workers to form unions. Romney is close behind with “getting government out of the way of corporations.”

In August at the Iowa State Fair last year Romney said to an angry crowd opposed to his position on taxes that “corporations are people.”

Lincoln once said, "The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the Bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.. corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed."

The name-of-the-game heading into the final stretch should be a down-to-earth jobs plan from both these candidates. We need a plan that invests in people, not a societal/government overhaul, not more corporatization, or political fiction feigning reality.

What will we get?

More of the same: From Gingrich there’s a supply-side plan, Reaganomics 2.0, and from Romney? Well, let’s see, cutting taxes, slapping China, drilling oil and more flip-sided contradictions. Romney says, unlike Obama, he would crack down on China. But he called President Obama’s Chinese tariffs, a defense of American tire companies from foreign competition, “protectionism that stifles productivity.”

The CBO’s Policy Options Cumulative Effects on Unemployment for 2012- 2013 provide a good indication of what works and what won’t. It’s a mixed bag. Topping the list is increasing aid to the unemployed, providing additional refundable tax credits to lower and middle income households, reducing employers’ payroll taxes for firms that increase their payroll.

Romney opposed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization.Gingrich would dole out $760,000.00 in tax breaks on average, to millionaires, while he would drug test people who receive unemployment and food stamps. According to analysts the deficit would explode under Gingrich’s plan. And Mitt Romney’s $6.6 trillion tax cut would benefit the wealthy and corporations. “After accounting for the added interest costs that we’ll have to pay, the total cost of Romney’s plan grows to $7.8 trillion over the next 10 years. Romney’s plan would yield approximately $6.5 trillion in deficits from 2013 through 2021.” This is bizarre because Romney supports a balanced budget amendmen

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12437

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/07/313068/romneys-tax-plan-cost-6-6-trillion/

Gingrich admits his old style politics. Blinded by what he refers to as the new cynicism, he said this recently, “I can’t do modern politics,” he confessed to a Rotary Club breakfast in Des Moines, Iowa. He was referring to damaging ads against him, like the one that showed him appearing in a global warming ad campaign with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif and the ad that raised questions about his consulting company's $1.6 million dollar contract with mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Despite Romney’s attack ads on Gingrich, Romney is facing scrutiny himself for not revealing his tax returns and failing to repudiate his son’s birther remarks.

If you browse the Des Moines Iowa Register today, you’ll see that Romney wins the electability category, and Gingrich the most knowledgeable, ties with Bachmann on the least able to bring about real change.

Where in all of this last minute scrutiny and gamesmanship are their jobs’ plans?

It’s what they all should be talking about…

http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/12/31/iowa-poll-analysis-republican-presidential-candidates/

Tis the season not to tax? Ho, ho ho!

2011-12-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

Who would have ever imagined that Christmas/holiday trees would be so politically controversial?

Obama put the kibosh on the United States Department of Agriculture 15-cent tax on Christmas trees due to Republican opposition. The fee, which was voted in by Republicans in 1996, was going to be used for promoting a floundering Christmas-tree Industry.

U.S. Agriculture Department recognizes some 18 research and promotion programs from dairy products, popcorn, pork, blueberries and soybeans. All authorized under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

The 1996 Christmas Tree Tax legislation was co-sponsored by none other than John Boehner, the current Republican Speaker of the House. The House vote was 318 to 89 with most of the no votes coming from Democrats. In the Senate, the vote was 74 to 26. Sen. John McCain was the only Republican to vote no.

How times change.

Fox News jumped on this story, putting the pressure on Obama to pull the Christmas Tree Tax. Fox portrayed him as the Grinch of Christmas present and the Christmas Tree Industry as just another lobbying group. The Cato Institute says the tax would “further partisan aims rather than provoke a discussion and debate on the proper role of the federal government.”

In an online article, The Tea Party Patriots included a picture of MAO TSE TUNG and what could be described as a personal attack on the President, not a substanitive explanation about the tree tax including some context:

"Obama, who doesn’t appear to care too much for Christmas, tried to impose a Christmas tree tax on those of us right-wing extremists who do. President and First Lady Obama do not give Christmas presents to their daughters. Also, the Obama White House Christmas (Holiday) tree last year was decorated with ornaments portraying the likeness of traditional Christmas figures such as Mao Tse Tung and drag queens. Notice that Obama’s tax was not called a Holiday Tree tax. Or a Winter Festival Tree tax. Or an Any-Name-But-Christmas Tree Tax. No, it was a Christmas Tree tax. It seems in these politically correct times, the only time a liberal will mention the word ‘Christmas’ is if they’re slapping a tax on it! After an uproar from conservatives, President Obama (aka ‘The Grinch’) decided to table the tax. For the moment."

http://www.teapartypatriots.org/news/bah-rack-humbug-will-the-grinch-tax-christmas/

What about the partisan interests related to these heavily subsidized industries, Koch, Exxon, Halliburton, Chevron, who contribute and lobby mostly Republican candidates? Who by the way receive billions in subsidies and tax credits from the federal government.

Who’s the Grinch, now?

An April 14 report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) titled, "Energy Tax Policy: Issues in the 112th Congress," details seven federal tax breaks explicitly targeted for the benefit of the oil and gas industry that cost the federal government billions of dollars, according to Media Matters. Between 2002 and 2008, $72 billion dollars in breaks were doled out to the oil and gas industry. Republicans have historically blocked any attempts to repeal Oil and Gas industry-specific subsidies.

$72 Billion would buy a lot of Christmas trees.

In a Media Matters article, “Beck Guest Falsely Claims Oil And Gas Companies Get "Zero" Government Subsidies,” it states that “President Obama has also called for repeal of other Oil and Gas Industry-specific subsidies. As noted by PolitiFact, in his fiscal year 2010 budget, Obama outlined "nine different measures under the category 'eliminate oil and gas company preferences.'"

The Koch Industry, long-standing opponents to “government regulations, taxes, and subsidies, claim that they stifle individual initiative and hamper American competitiveness.” The Koch Industry makes jet fuel in Alaska from North Slope oil, and gasoline in Minnesota from the oil sands of Canada. In 2010 Koch ranked amongst the top five lobbyists in the nation’s capital.

Oil, not "Angel Soft, Quilted Northern, Brawny, Sparkle, Mardi Gras or Dixie” products, all Koch brands, is the core of the “too big to boycott, Koch business empire. The company’s lobbyists and officials have successfully fought to preserve the industry’s tax breaks and credits, and to defeat attempts by Congress to regulate greenhouse gases.

Which is more expensive, gasoline at the pump or Christmas trees this holiday season?

Here’s a bundle full of Holiday irony, while consumer goods from gasoline to milk are now more expensive than in 2010, Christmas trees will actually cost about the same as last year. “The National Christmas Tree Association estimates Americans bought about 27 million evergreens last year, at a mean price of $36.12. The total amount spent on real trees was about $976 million.”

Just to put things in perspective, in 2011 there’s been an 18% gas price bump compared to 2010 and the average cost for feeding a table of ten this year is expected to have risen by $5.73 total to $49.20.

Oh, Christmas tree, Oh holiday tree…you’ve evolved into somewhat of a political drama. In truth you're a symptom of capitalism: marketed to millions, without any religious significance. We know that irks some, nevertheless it’s a sign of the times...they’re always changing…in part because businesses want to sell "Christmas" to everyone, not just Christians. The neutral marketing of mistletoe, seasonal greens, holiday treats and eats, caters to Americans with different or zero religious beliefs.

You decide which is more important this holiday season: the controversy over a 15 cent tree tax, which supports a comparatively small American industry, or a local/national government insistence, (in this case, Governor Scott Walker's undoing of a tradition since 1985 when he declared a holiday tree a Christmas tree) and acknowledgement that a holiday tree is a Christmas tree, i.e. a Christian religious symbol to everyone?

Or are subsidies as a whole, whether they're for oil exploration or evergreen farms something the federal government should keep their mittens off?

http://www.newser.com/story/132929/scott-walker-rechristens-holiday-tree-a-christmas-tree.html

Email us at: prairiehomeliving@yahoo.com

Bullying: "A very timely issue"

2011-11-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

Bullying!

We all should know and practice the “Golden Rule” which actually means an "ethic of reciprocity." We have continued to back-slide when it comes to personal responsibility for ourselves and how we treat others at home and at school. Kathryn Kersten wrote in a November StarTribune piece, "Bullying is a symptom of moral decline." Kersten says schools are partially accountable for the last 2500 years of a chronic behavorial lapse into incivility.

Not surprisingly in this age of untruthiness and decompounded meaning, we all have our own definition of what the "Golden Rule" actually stands for.

More than likely what we’ve heard lately in relation to "ethical reciprocity" is the oft used phrase "everyone should exercise their own personal responsibility."

In a perfect world.

Kersten quotes author Christian Smith's analysis of how today's youth make moral decisions. The consensus among 230 American youth, according to Smith, is that it's a matter of "personal choice" and "individual decision."

Ultimately it is, but we know that rules and laws of conduct go back to our earliest teachings, whether religious or philosophical theories like the "virtue ethics" of Aristotle and Socrates. The Ten Commandments are laws; the Beatitudes are precepts of "moral" behavior.

Kersten forgets to mention those most ancient of laws in her insubstantial expose about bullying. FYI there's no mention of "squishy multi-culturism" in any of those texts as part of the problem. Can you imagine that? 2500 years of laws that are the foundation, bed-rock in fact, of human behavior and morality and she's all about the condemnation of "laws," particularly government interference and social pluralism: making the broadest range of human differences acceptable to the largest number of people. Multiculturalism seeks to overcome racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. Not so ironically, but counterintuitively her repugnance of "laws", and her code-word for government, "Big Brother" doesn't apply when it comes to a woman's right to choose or same sex marriage.

In speaking about legislation directed at the problem of bullying or in her words, "moral degeneration," Chris Cristi, (R) New Jersey's Governor is responsible for the "heavy handed bullying legislation" Kersten detests, but failed to point out that a Republican Governor backed this most loathsome bill.

In one sentence she affirms the responsibility of schools, in the next she condemns the interference and overreach of laws that require schools to utilize more stringent methods to eliminate the harm caused by bullying. In other words, in her words, as long as they are "justified in morally neutral language," it's okay. That's code for LGBT not included.

Bullying is not right or left, black or white, it knows no bounds, except that it is bad, not good. Kersten doesn't get it; there are no distinctions.

Governor Christie signed what may be the toughest anti-bullying laws in the nation after Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi, took his own life.

Evidently Christie believes we are a nation of laws that are necessary to mandate/instill "ethical reciprocity," like the laws Moses and Jesus commanded unto us.

How have the ancient teachings and laws of "ethical reciprocity" been working for us so far?

State Sen. Barbara Buono, a Democrat and one of the sponsors of the new law, said that “New Jersey is sending a powerful message to every child that school will be a safe place for them to learn and grow, not a place for them to dread."

New Jersey joined a wave of states in 2002 that adopted anti-bullying laws in the aftermath of the Columbine school shootings. Lawmakers said the laws didn’t offer enough protections for those who are persistently bullied.

The New Jersey law requires anti-bullying programs and policies in public schools that are not just encouraged, but mandated, a legal requirement anathema to Kersten. Now the schools with these laws will necessitate the coordination of anti-bullying specialists and reporting of incidents to the state.

States with anti-bullying laws include:

California Cal. Ed Code § 35294.2 (2001)

Colorado Colo. Public Act No. 02-119 (2002)

Connecticut Ct. Public Act No. 02-119 (2002)

Georgia Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-751.4 (2001)

Illinois ILCS § 105 5/10-20.14

Louisiana La. R.S. 17 § 416.13 (2001)

New Hampshire N.H. RSA 193-F (2000)

New Jersey N.J.S.A. 18A:37-13-18 (2002)

New York NY CLS Educ § 2801-a (2002)

Oklahoma Ok Stat. 70 § 24-100.2 (2002)

Oregon Ore. Laws 617 (2001)

Rhode Island R.I. Gen, Laws § 16-21-24 (2001)

Vermont V.S.A. 16 § 565 (2001)

Washington RCW 28A.300.285 (2002)

West Virginia W.Va. Code Ann. § 18-2C-1 (2001)

You're all probably wondering if Minnesota has an anti-bullying law?

In the Northfield News' "Minnesota's anti-bullying law puts onus on school districts," November 21st, 2011, by Jerry Smith, Smith writes, "At just 37 words, Minnesota's law against bullying is one of the shortest in the nation."

Minnesota law requires "each school board to adopt a written policy prohibiting intimidation and bullying of any student. The policy addresses intimidation and bullying in all forms, including, but not limited to, electronic forms and forms involving Internet use."

"That's the only requirement. Unlike other state laws, it contains no list of what those policies must include."

"Approved by legislators in 2005 and amended two years later, Minnesota's law leaves individual districts largely responsible for implementing their own bullying prevention measures."

http://www.northfieldnews.com/content/minnesotas-anti-bullying-law-puts-onus-school-districts

In her article Kersten chided Al Franken for federal legislation he is pursuing citing what he calls a "pervasive systemic discrimination" of GLBT students. Kersten waxes dramatic on causes, but not solutions, particularly ones that pertain to government. She places blame for our indubitable human fallabilities of selfishness and mean spiritedness as a product of parental failure (role modeling) and our social framework. She also attacks schools for failing to imbue "character and virtue."

What doesn't help is the edification of intolerance. Places of worship have conferenced on the evils of GLBT right here in Eden Prairie, so you can begin to see some of the connections/roots of anti-GLBT sentiment. Call this anti-GLBT sentiment personal opinion or a by-product of religious beliefs, whichever, there is no place for hatred and predjudice that results in bullying.

http://www.citypages.com/2006-10-04/news/the-chosen-one/5/

Either Kersten has no knowledge of the prevalance of LGBT bias or has selective memory when it comes to the statistical evidence of bias toward LGBT students. Where are kids learning this bias? From friends? Where do their friends learn it? That's the discussion Kersten is avoiding.

Where do our elected officials stand on bullying?

Eden Prairie’s State Legislators were split on the All Anti-Bullying Bill in 2009.

Eden Prairie’s Senator Hann (R) was opposed to the Safe Schools For All Anti-Bullying Bill in the MN Senate in 2009 and voted against it.

http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_member.php?cs_id=25079

In 2009, Representative Jenifer Loon (R) voted yes in support of SF971-School Anti-Bullying Policy Requirements in the House.

http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=109180

The anti-bullying bill was dropped from the 2010 Special Session. Senator Scott Dibble, (D) MPLS and Jim Davnie, (D) MPLS, co-sponsors of the bill, said suicide not politics is motivating the legislation.

“Children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, who are gay, lesbian, overweight, super-skinny, or "simply perceived as different" are often targets, Goldberg said. In her testimony before the Civil Rights Commission, Paula Goldberg of Pacer, National Bullying Prevention Center, shared the story of a 12-year-old girl with epilepsy in outstate Minnesota. When the girl used the restroom in her middle school, other girls would writhe on the floor, mocking seizures.”

http://www.pacer.org/bullying/

Minnesota is among 46 states with anti-bullying laws, but Minnesota's is weak. The state doesn't require schools to document and report cases of bullying, according to Goldberg.

The center backed a bill in the Legislature that would have required school districts to collect bullying data, provide more staff training and other provisions. It never got off the ground, Goldberg said.

The center launched "National Bullying Prevention Week" in 2006, which joined forces with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.

Goldberg said that was when the effort really caught on fire.

They launched a "Run Walk Roll Against Bullying" fundraiser, an idea already replicated in other states.

The National Bullying Center in Bloomington just recieved an honorary award from the FBI according to a Startribune West Metro news update on Nov 19th. The center lobbies for anti-bullying legislation and policies and provides educational toolkits to schools and communities. It has received national attention for its work since 2005 when it was launched by PACER, a Minnesota nonprofit.

Bullying Statistics

http://behavioral-management.com/bullying-statistics

It’s also been a contentious issue in the Minnesota Senate as DFLers push for anti-bullying protections while Republicans push back because the bill includes language pertaining to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis said, “It’s important to understand that everyone is harmed. It needs to very clear that Minnesota bill protects all kids. In a perfect world we’d say no bullying against anyone, period, end of story, but sadly we don’t live in a perfect world.”

The Minnesota legislation contained 14 categories of characteristics that are protected from disability to religious affiliation to physical body type. But Republicans made clear that the fact that sexual orientation was included was a problem.

Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie asked, “What is intimidation? If I am in school and say I express an opinion that marriage between a man and a woman is the only type of marriage that should exist, and I’m talking to someone who disagrees with that, is that harassment?”

Sen. Mike Jungbauer, R-Anoka, posed a similar situation. “My daughter takes a pretty heavy stand in her school against global warming and she is harassed and she is bullied and she’s known at the school as the ‘global warming girl,’” he said. “The teachers let it go on because they perceive her as wrong. And I don’t see anything in this bill that might apply to her.”

Sen. Dibble said the bill covered both instances. “I think that’s a strongly held belief and I think ‘creed’ would cover that circumstance. I believe as strong as anyone that no kid should be victim to bullying and harassment. ”

Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, offered an amendment to the bill that would prevent schools from speaking about gays and lesbians in a positive light. It would ban “the teaching in education institutions of homosexuality or bisexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.”

To that Dibble said, “This amendment sends a really negative message to gay kids. Here it is, a Senate chamber that’s going to put words like this into law?”

That amendment failed, but the bill itself passed.

But this is not the end of the story..

PEBE: (Problem Exists Between Ears) won the School Board Election in Eden Prairie.

2011-11-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

Holly Parker, John Estall, Karla Bratrud and Dave Espe (PEBE) each won a seat on the Eden Prairie School Board for the next two years. What the numbers show is that a group of parents motivated to vote, those affected by the redistricting and involved in the ongoing legal and media opposition to boundary changes, voted out Ross, Lapadat, Fox and Gunderson, candidates who supported the redistricting.

For the past year PEBE had the undivided attention and ultimate endorsement of our two local papers to the complete occlusion of the flip-side of this story. PEBE set out to brand the school administration and its Superintendent and anyone who supported her as bad guys. This in itself smacks of right-side, wrong-side. Instead of a willingness to compromise, what we got is controversy, politicization of racial and economic integration, student testing, fiscal woes, teacher assessments, ad infinitum.

The Nation Coalition on School Diversity (NSCD) would disagree with PEBE’s bad-guy characterization.

So would Dr. Susan Eaton, Ed.D, Research Director, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Harvard Law School and John Powell, J.D., Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University and the Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University.

Their position is one of understanding: they realize the demographics are changing locally and support the boundary changes that were initiated as a result of racial, cultural, linguistic and economic changes in Eden Prairie.

Now PEBE will be on the receiving end: they will be the ones being scrutinized for transparency and accountability, not just to the 1,000 parents involved in the boundary changes, who voted for them, and the parents who live in houses within walking distance of a particular school, but all of Eden Prairie’s families.

PEBE, ironically, is the order in which Parker, Estall, Bratrud and Espe won their elections. It’s also an acronym turned on its face, not a BEEP, as they were called by parents who supported them, but a PEBE: a problem that exists between ears, according to the Urban dictionary’s initial meaning.

Will the defeat of redistricting champions result in a school board whose selective hearing may be the un-doing of equity and fairness? Will PEBE continue to move toward dismantling the boundary changes, ignoring all other voices?

Now it’s PEBE’s turn to be under the microscope. The nation is watching.

Building Support for Educators in Racially Changing Suburbs: NSCD Statement on School Boundary Changes in Eden Prairie, Minnesota

2011-11-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

NSCD Statement on School Boundary Changes in Eden Prairie, Minnesota

At the start of the 2011-12 academic year, about 1,050 of Eden Prairie, Minnesota’s some 9,600 students changed schools under a locally devised plan to make building usage more efficient, cut costs, reduce concentrated poverty and increase racial and cultural diversity. The plan triggered outcry from a highly organized group of parents, who attracted local, state and even national media attention to this suburb about 17 miles southwest of Minneapolis. The outraged parents threatened a lawsuit, a threat that was later dropped. In drawing new school attendance boundaries, educators and residents who crafted the plan had used the legal guidelines set forth in the US Supreme Court’s 2007 decision,

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1, which defines the avoidance of segregation and the attainment of diversity as "compelling" government interests and provides permissible practices for achieving these goals.

Through this statement, the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) expresses strong support for Eden Prairie educators and community members who, under immense pressure, implemented a forward-looking plan to achieve equity, efficiency and high-quality schooling within economically and culturally and racially diverse schools The events in Eden Prairie lead us again to urge state and federal government officials to develop practices and policies that would support this and similar local efforts of local officials’ in the nation’s growing number of racially and ethnically changing suburbs.

The most recent rigorous social science research (see "Resources" at the end of this document) adds to decades of studies demonstrating a wide range of academic and longer-term social benefits of attendance at racially and/or economically diverse schools.

Eden Prairie, like many of its neighboring suburbs in Minnesota and like a growing number of US suburban communities, has experienced demographic change in the last two decades. For example, in 2000, 90 percent of the city’s public school students were white, 5 percent were Asian, 3 percent were African American, and 1 percent Hispanic. By 2010, 75 percent of students were white, 11 percent were African American (largely of Somali descent), 10 percent were Asian and 4 percent were Hispanic.

The changes to Eden Prairie’s boundary and grade configurations came into being after educators in early 2009 grew increasingly concerned about the growing concentration of poverty in one elementary school, the lack of meaningful racial and cultural economic diversity in another and the fiscal and academic inefficiency of the city’s K-4 model. A committee of parents and residents crafted a plan designed to resolve these and other challenges. The final plan altered school attendance zones, which, ironically, reduced the average bus travel time in this 6-square mile district. The plan also moved the district to a K-6 model, thereby reducing the number of transitions to new schools that students would have to make during their K-12 careers. Upon recommendation of then-Superintendent Melissa Krull, the city’s school board in December, 2010, endorsed the plan on a 4 - 3 vote. Public meetings routinely devolved into booing and name calling. The plan, though, went ahead and this September, the several principals and many teachers affected by the changes report that Eden Prairie’s pupils this fall transitioned smoothly to their new schools.

Shortly after the plan took effect this fall, the city school board, which had faced enormous pressure from a group of white parents, effectively forced Superintendent Krull out of her job. The ouster came despite the dramatic improvements in academic achievement posted during her tenure, despite a clear and relatively recent narrowing of the racial achievement gap and despite her strong support among administrators, school principals, teachers and parents.

As of late October, 2011, the integrative boundary changes remain intact but are precarious. The upcoming school board election, scheduled for November 8, 2011 could determine whether or not the plan survives, as some candidates have expressed opposition to it. (Four seats on the 7-member board are open).

NCSD applauds the efforts of the former superintendent, Dr. Melissa Krull, other administrators, educators, Eden Prairie residents and elected officials who made decisions based upon decades of experience working with children, budgets and facilities. Educators and community leaders advocated for these changes after careful consideration of legal issues and of the most recent and most rigorous research findings that demonstrate the educational benefits of diversity and the harms of concentrated poverty.

A careful look at the public process and implementation of this plan shows that Krull and others engaged in a systematic effort to inform and involve the public both during the plan development and after its approval by the elected school board. Further, a review of demographic data strongly suggests that poverty would have continued to intensify in one school that had drawn a sizable share of its enrollment from affordable housing and a growing Somali immigrant community in the city’s northern section The opposition may have won ample media coverage, but interviews with Eden Prairie educators and parents, who expressed strong support for the plan to

For example, in 2008, in Eden Prairie, 44 percent of African American students passed the state’s MCA/MTAS test in reading. By 2011, 65 percent of African American students had passed the test. During that period, Hispanic students’ pass rate increased from 59 percent to 71 percent. White students increased their passage rate from 86 percent in 2008 to 91 percent in 2011.The gap between white and African American performance narrowed from 42 percentage points in 2008 to 26 percentage points in 2011. And the gap in reading passing rates between Hispanic students and white students narrowed from 27 percentage points in 2008 to 20 percentage points in 2011.

Based on an analysis of the 2010 US Census, the demographer William Frey notes: "More than half of all minority groups in large metro areas, including blacks, now live in the suburbs. The share of blacks in large metro areas living in suburbs rose from 37 percent in 1990 to 44 percent in 2000 to 51 percent in 2010." In 2010, the share of whites in suburbs was 72 percent; Asians 62 percent and Latinos 59 percent. See: Frey, William H. Melting Pot Cities and Suburbs: Racial and Ethnic Change in Metro America in the 2000s. The Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. May, 2011.

reduce concentrated poverty, suggest that the angered parents’ group does not represent the community as a whole.

We are encouraged not only by the desegregation effort, but too, by the dedication of Eden Prairie’s teachers and principals, who for several years have worked with national experts such as the National Urban Alliance and the Pacific Education Group, to harness the educational benefits of growing diversity. Teachers and school staff regularly attend trainings and implement their knowledge by crafting curriculum, using inclusive discipline policies, employing classroom engagement practices, designing parent involvement programs and practices and keeping up with professional development that promotes equity and cultural competence in many facets of schooling. Central office administrators have repeatedly stated that they view increased diversity and the reduction of concentrated poverty as elements in a broad effort to continue narrowing the racial/ethnic achievement gap. Since 2008, data show Eden Prairie’s students posting steady gains in scores on state tests in reading and in math. The so-called "achievement gap" between white students and students of color has narrowed considerably in recent years, as has the gap between students from low-income families and other students.

Eden Prairie exemplifies the challenges educators face in the nation’s growing number of suburban communities undergoing racial, cultural, linguistic and economic changes.

These intensifying demographic shifts are happening all over the United States, and we need to support educators and leaders when they respond in constructive ways consistent with what research suggests. Such racial and cultural changes will often require equity-minded local educators to craft policies that upset the status quo in communities that only recently were far more homogenous. In the context of racial and cultural and economic differences, such change often incites intense opposition from privileged constituents who perceive that they benefit from keeping unequal arrangements intact. Locally based organizing to build support for pro-diversity policies is always crucial in such a context. However, without complementary support from state and federal government, equity-minded policy remains unstable and the

The Eden Prairie Sun reports: "Minnetonka Schools aren't shy about recruiting students from other communities. Since 2002, they have had a strategic plan that includes promoting their programs and the district through local newspapers, advertisements and relocation guides. . . For the last four years, they have run commercials on Minnesota Public Radio and Twin Cities Public Television." http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2011/01/26/eden_prairie/news/1ep27enrollment.txt

leaders who craft it remain too vulnerable to be effective over the long term. Thus, we recommend that state leaders across the nation act immediately to assess needs in demographically changing suburbs and develop policies accordingly to support local efforts to avoid concentrated poverty and segregation and create more equitable educational environments. A handful of states, including Minnesota, do have policies that identify racially isolated schools and provide incentives or directives for communities to create racial desegregation plans. However, even in places with such policies, the rapid changes in suburbs in particular should trigger a reexamination and, possibly, adjustments to such rules and regulations before segregation becomes entrenched and more difficult to remedy.

The particular case of Minnesota provides a good example of the need for policy monitoring and possible adjustment. The state’s current "desegregation rule" identifies racially isolated schools and encourages local communities to develop plans to alleviate such conditions. Unfortunately, this rule is potentially undermined by another state policy that allows students to transfer out of their home districts with no regard as to whether or not such moves enhance or hinder desegregation efforts. Eden Prairie is a case in point. In the fall of September 2011, about 44 white children, who would have been assigned to a more racially diverse school under the plan, transferred from Eden Prairie to the nearly all-white neighboring district, Minnetonka. (Officials in Minnetonka regularly advertise its school district offerings in the privileged but more diverse and changing nearby suburbs, such as Eden Prairie.)

This policy context, which exists in other states as well, makes meaningful, stable integration desegregation even more difficult to achieve.

We hope that equity-minded elected leaders, local residents, and state officials across our nation will draw lessons from the recent events in Eden Prairie and act now to make stable, integrated, high quality public schools accessible to more children of all racial, cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

The following resources offer information about racially changing suburbs and about policies and practices that support school diversity and the reduction of concentrated poverty.
1. Integrating Suburban Schools: How to Benefit from Growing Diversity and Avoid Segregation

http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/integrating-suburban-schools-how-to-benefit-from-growing-diversity-and-avoid-segregation/tefera-suburban-manual-2011.pdf

2. Melting Pot Cities and Suburbs: Racial and Ethnic Change in Metro America in the 2000s. The Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution.

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/0504_census_ethnicity_frey/0504_census_ethnicity_frey.pdf

3. NCSD Research Briefs Summarizing the Benefits of Racially and Economically Diverse Schooling
Diversity & Math and Science Achievement

http://charleshamiltonhouston.org/assets/documents/publications/DiversityResearchBriefNo1.pdf

4. Diversity & Literacy, Behavioral Climate, High School Graduation Rates

http://charleshamiltonhouston.org/assets/documents/publications/DiversityResearchBriefNo2.pdf

5. Diverse Schools in a Democratic Society

http://charleshamiltonhouston.org/assets/documents/publications/DiversityResearchBriefNo3.pdf

6. Reaffirming the Role of School Integration in K-12 Education Policy
http://www.prrac.org/pdf/DiversityIssueBriefStmt.pdf

National Civil Rights Groups Express Support for Eden Prairie School Diversity Efforts & Urge Local, State and National Leaders to Develop Plans for Promoting Racial and Economic Diversity and Avoiding Segregation in U.S. Suburbs

2011-11-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

For immediate release

Thursday, November 4, 2011

National Civil Rights Groups Express Support for Eden Prairie School Diversity Efforts & Urge Local, State and National Leaders to Develop Plans for Promoting Racial and Economic Diversity and Avoiding Segregation in U.S. Suburbs

The attached statement from the Nation Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) expresses support for educators in Eden Prairie, MN, who this year implemented a plan to reduce and prevent the concentration of poverty as one means toward providing high-quality schooling in economically, racially and culturally diverse environments. The controversy that changes to school boundaries triggered is, of course, local in nature. We have strong concern about Eden Prairie because recent events here bring to light the enormous challenges educators face in the nation’s growing number of suburban communities undergoing racial, cultural, linguistic and economic changes. In this attached statement, we urge equity-minded elected leaders, local residents, and state officials across the United States to draw lessons from Eden Prairie and act now to make stable, integrated, high quality public schools accessible to more children of all racial, cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

The National Coalition on School Diversity is a network of national civil rights organizations, university-based research institutes, local educational advocacy groups, and academic researchers seeking a greater commitment to racial and economic diversity in K-12 education policy and funding. We seek to procure a more significant political and financial commitment to racial and economic integration. We also support the work of people and organizations in states and local communities who are trying to create, sustain and improve racially and economically diverse schools. For more information, visit our website:

http://www.prrac.org/full_text.php?text_id=1225&item_id=11691&newsletter_id=0&header=Current%20Projects

We encourage members of the media to contact the following NCSD members for further comments related to this statement:

Dr. Susan Eaton

Ed.D, Research Director, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Harvard Law School

seaton@law.harvard.edu

617-216-6388

John Powell

J.D., Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University and the Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University

powel008@yahoo.com

614-282-2785

Cold turkey: “American Majority” lands School Board Elections Training Programs

2011-11-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Wild Local Eden Prairie Turkeys

Burbs like Eden Prairie, bastions of “white flight,” have become new “minority majorities” where minority students are altering the racial, socio-economics that exist at neighborhood schools. Not surprisingly, as pointed out by Eden Prairie resident and blogger Tommy Johnson, the American Majority, a national right-wing political training group swooped down locally with its candidate and school board training programs.

The logistical and philosophical divide in Eden Prairie as it relates to a very small, but affluent real estate market and the direction of the school board in relation to the boundary changes, is nothing short of a dollars-and-cents, political, ideological all-for-us, none-for-you stratagem: its goal is freedom in the marketplace, which equates to privatizing public schools.

The incredulity of the “majority” categorization is that pound-for-pound the “American Majority” doesn’t represent the values and priorities of most Americans. The recent Tea Party sponsored debates are an example of what has been referred to as “unrepentant blood sport,” an "empathy crisis" in the Republican Party that is repugnant to most Americans.

Grouping them with the Tea Party Express, Sourcewatch says the “American Majority” is credited with providing "deep-pocketed backing" to factions involved in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race in 2011.

American Majority worked with Michelle Malkin, RedState.com, American Liberty Alliance, Smart Girl Politics, Americans for Limited Government, FreedomWorks, the Sam Adams Alliance and other right-wing groups that organized opposition to health care reform.

The likelihood that American Majority trained some of our very own candidates running for the school board is a distinct possibility. According to an article in the Daily Caller, “The veteran politicos behind the conservative American Majority organization are putting their energy into training novice Tea Party candidates running for a school board, city council or state senate seat in your town.”

None of the Eden Prairie School Board candidates have revealed any participation via training or affiliation with American Majority (Tea Party). But neither did Kirk Stensrud when he ran to replace Maria Ruud. He was, in fact, an organizing member of the newly established Local Tea Party, but failed to divulge this to the public.

More recently Michelle Bachmann, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, said that the American Majority, referring to the organization as a Tea Party group, posted a message saying, “It was time for her to pull the plug on her campaign, calling it not serious.”

What may have truly started out as a local disagreement over school policy here in Eden Prairie quickly turned into a mock-turkey free-for-all for what appears to be Tea Partyists grabbing their share of local control.

Not unlike real turkeys, the clucking confab’s vocals, identified by Eden Prairie producer and conservationist Jeff Strate in a recent letter to the Eden Prairie News, have permeated the air waves, social media and local press exhibiting all the inclinations of territorial domination, fierce loyalty and extreme hostility to outsiders.

Feathers flew and beaks pecked.

Since the “American Majority”/Tea Party could play a furtive role in the up-coming school board election, if nothing else, in establishing a political training continuum that most of us would agree has no place in local politics, we all have the right to ask each of the candidates if they participated in Tea Party candidate training or are planning to participate at any time in the future.

All school board candidates, but particularly those who did not answer PHL's Q & A, should all start talking-turkey, straight-talk, before we vote on November 8th.

Eden Prairie School Board race for the future, now? Charterizing, voucherizing and privatizing our public school system?

2011-10-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Mix an alkaline substance with an acidic substance and you get a chemical reaction.

Baking soda and vinegar have frequently been used in public school science classes and university level courses to evaluate and observe chemical reactions. Mix corporatized and actuated testing and scoring, private $$ and education and you get KABOOM--depersonalization and inequality.

Fact:Pennsylvania’s Governor Corbett cut $1B from the public education budget in 2011 but was willing to spend $1B on school vouchers. Many charter school boards are self-elected, where parents have no say.

Fact:Billionaires, the Waltons & hedgefunders are tip-toeing into the educational realm. Do we want that?

Fact: Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix and former president of the California State Board of Education said at a Roundtable at Stanford “Education Nation 2.0: Redefining K-12 education in America before it redefines us,” that the “biggest problem in American schools is the system of elected school boards and predicted that, one day, all schools will be run by nonprofit charter organizations.”

Fact: Imagine if corporations, billionaires or national political players tried to buy a seat on the school board? It’s not that far-fetched. It’s already happening. The undercurrent is a push toward privatization and vouchers and the elimination of grass roots participation by key-stakeholders, the parents.

Wonder why billionaires, the Waltons & hedgefunders are attempting to de-publicize schools? Cause it’s a cookie jar they can't wait to raid.

What’s intriguing and possibly deceptive is that Hormel and General Mills, in the language of the civil rights, is heralding the future of a diverse work force and customer base. But the privatizing “reform” coming from most corporations is more like a sea change to the public school system that would make conditions less fair, particularly for children of color.

Charter schools and voucher programs isolate children of color. “Charter schools use selective enrollment to turn away children with special needs and those learning English as a second language. They avoid serving the homeless, foster care children or those receiving reduced-cost or free lunches.”

So much for inclusion.

Once you remove governmental oversight and union representation that ensure fairness, the result has been disproportionate enrollment at private, charter schools and voucher programs.

In Edweek’s “I Like Tests” by Nancy Flanagan, she wrote, “Rockets, volcanoes and bubble bombs are fun to create and explode, but somewhere in there, shouldn't students be able to describe the chemical reactions that occur when you combine baking soda and vinegar? Isn't that the point of hands-on learning, illustrating knowledge to drive home key points of content?”

Isn’t that the point of real-to-life testing?

Flanagan says the future of testing children might come in the form of "performance tasks" and “assessment toolkits” administered by “electronic simulations, machine-delivered and scored.” Flanagan says we should expect them to be the “Next Big Thing, a dazzling 21st century addition to boring old standardized tests.”

And the why for is because privatizers want to turn schools into lots and lots of $$ cookies. Surprised? Count it up:

$20 billion transportation

$18 billion for food service

$63 billion student support services

$44 billion administration and back-office functions

For-profit charter schools look at the public sector like Grover looks at cookies.

THEY WANT COOKIES.

We already know that charter school teachers get lower salaries, smaller pensions and health benefits.

We’re talking Federal Education spending in 2006-2007 that totaled $562B in local, state and federal education funding.

That’s a lot of cookies.

We’re not going to go “down that road” again…

2011-10-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Before anyone starts accusing the school board of not looking out for taxpayers, we need to take a serious look at our own legislators and the decreased K though 12 funding, despite a hike in property taxes, paradoxically from our own no-new taxes legislators, Hann, Stensrud and Loon.

Minnesota 2020 identifies that spending in Minnesota K through 12^th grade has fallen below the national average on Senator David Hann’s watch.

“With Pawlenty, the “no-new tax” governor and an all-too compliant legislature, the state couldn’t maintain its K-12 education commitment. As a result, per pupil state operating dollars fell. The decline in education funding had two consequences. First, school property taxes increased to replace diminishing state dollars. Statewide, school operating levies will increase by $921 (140%) per pupil in constant 2011 dollars from FY 2003 to FY 2011. Second, because this levy increase cannot replace the $1,278 drop in state funding, the total dollars available to pay for Minnesota schools is projected to fall by $357 per pupil (3.5%).”

“Projected FY 2011 real per pupil levy is still less than in FY 2002, the year before elimination of the general education property tax”

http://www.mn2020.org/assets/uploads/article/education/District%20by%20District%20School%20Funding%20Trends.pdf

State Economist Tom Stinson and State Demographer Tom Gillaspy accounted for Minnesota’s economic success over the last half century to smart education investments. So economic/individual success is interdependent based on the premise we all do better, when we all do better. If we continue to short-change our children’s futures, tomorrow’s workforce, by continuing to cut school funding, we hurt everyone.

By now if everyone can’t understand why the boundaries needed to be changed, they either haven’t been paying attention or they’re insensitive to the needs of all children in the community. What substantiates the need to change the boundaries doesn’t come from research, it comes from actual results across the country and from global businesses and corporations who realize our workforce, families, communities, and schools will all be more diverse in the near future.

Children from low income and non-English speaking households do better when they aren’t isolated. Schools are stronger with an income mix according to Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, who has echoed what businesses and corporations have been saying, “To be competitive educationally, the U.S. needs to do a much better job of tapping into the raw talents of all American students, not just those who can afford to live in neighborhoods with good public schools. And that will require giving all students more choice to attend high performing economically-mixed schools.”

The conclusion one can’t help but appreciate is that attending a school with a diverse student body can help prepare your child for citizenship in a multicultural democracy. You’re holding your children back and not preparing them for the world they will live and work in when they reach adulthood if you deny them the opportunity to be part of the bigger picture now —in order to become the diverse country— diverse world, they will live in.

We need to go up the road… not down it.

The elemental problem with stating that the boundary changes, with the goal of inclusion, are based on “unfounded claims” postulated by researchers or studies is that these claims are also verified by global companies. Here’s a statement from General Mills’ web site.

“In order to thrive in a global marketplace we must appreciate the demographic shifts under way and the importance of the multicultural consumer. Our success at creating an inclusive workplace directly impacts our ability to compete globally."

“General Mills treats diversity as an ethical, moral priority and a powerful business tool,” said Luke Visconti, chief executive officer of DiversityInc. “Far too many companies are way behind the curve and will find themselves in trouble in the next few years and decade. A diverse work force changes the character and the culture of a company. Thinking that diversity is merely a ‘feel-good’ or politically correct strategy without real impact will leave companies on the wrong side of history,” he said.”

Nikki Weber-Knutson at Hormel Foods put it this way, “The phrase “change or die” comes to mind.” The call for action and theme for the 2012 Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity at St Thomas is called “A TIME FOR INNOVATION.” This is a time for intense creativity, for rethinking and perhaps redefining D&I (Diversity and Inclusion). It is a time to push the envelope, to open up to new possibilities and look at things in a different way. It is a time for boldness.”

“When it comes to the work of diversity and inclusion in today’s climate of survival and change, leaders and practitioners are constantly facing new realities. Demographic changes in the U.S. and the globalization of all business continue to increase, even while attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining diverse talent remains a strategic priority. Just sustaining momentum from year to year is an ongoing challenge, yet the need to integrate diversity into the fabric of our organizations and eliminate barriers to inclusion in how we do business takes on added urgency. To succeed, business needs the outcomes that D&I efforts can provide, however, we need to examine our practice, gain a new perspective and retool for what’s next.”

If this doesn’t scream out at you, that major global businesses understand that their workforce and their customers will be more diverse, that they need to “eliminate barriers to inclusion” than you know much more than Hormel and General Foods about the kind of world are children will be working and living in. They must be wrong and you’re right? You think so?

It all starts at home, at school and in the community. It is our job to get them all ready for the challenge of their adulthood, to make sure everyone is receiving the best possible education.

Scarecrowians and Krullians: Battle of the Neighborhood Schools

2011-10-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

As Scarecrows go, this "hayseed" looks harmless enough...


Course you know what a scarecrow's job is? To keep out trespassers. But this scarecrow’s doing a revisionist approach to scarecrowing, adding “social engineering” to its tricks. Everyone can go into its field with the stipulation that it won't go into yours.

This scarecrow and other Eden Prairie scarecrowians think they “know the inner workings” of the city's neighborhood schools. They say “Forest Hills should have become Spanish Immersion, Oak Point should have become 4-6 (thus preserving PERFECT equity across our district from 4th grade to 12th) and the other 3 elementaries could have adjusted boundaries.”

Perfect Equity? Well, in scarecrow talk this is just another way of saying equity for all scarecrows. The territorial Scarcrowians message is clear: they believe it’s okay to move other kids, just don’t move theirs. Other kids can be farther from their own neighborhoods and school yard playgrounds, but their kids can’t. And for that the Scarcrowians hired a lawyer.


The concept of making Forest Hills the Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion was eliminated because it made more sense to house a district wide school in a building that is located near the geographic center of the district in order to minimize transportation costs and bus ride times for students. The Oak Point building is centrally located compared to Forest Hills. Second, maintaining Oak Point as a 4-6 school would mean more transitions for students than in the K-6 configuration. One of the original drivers of the K-6 decision was eliminating a transition as the research shows that transitions negatively impact student achievement. Third, as for demographic balance, the goal is to achieve balance beginning in Kindergarten and not wait until 5^th grade. There was great imbalance in the Eden Prairie elementary schools and the research shows that students do better in diverse environments. As a result, the Krullian goal was and is to achieve balance across all of Eden Prairie’s schools beginning in Kindergarten.

The Krullians agreed with Dr. Krull’s vision for closing the achievement gap based in part on fewer transitions for students and the consideration that the transition at fourth grade is not much different from changing at 5^th grade.


In the battle of the neighborhoods/schools the Scarecrowians complained it was all about the process. But both, Krullians and Scarecrowians went through the process together and the Scarecrowians proposal was nixed.


The scaries had their day— let’s say days—before the Eden Prairie School Board. The majority of Eden Prairie, which included Krullians wanted to go back to the K-6 model. The Scarecrowians proposal was not workable from the standpoint of creating more traveling time for minority children, and more transitions for all children.


All the accusations, condemnations by the Scarecrowians resulted in more than just eliminating a school superintendent; it hurt the community.

Scarecrowians continue to scoff at the recent data showing the economic/racial disparity narrowing, mock candidates who believe in the redistricting plan, and continue to repeat their nostrums of intimidation as the gabblings of "hayseeds."

BEEP: Beeping Eden Prairie into integrated-scholastic tranquility?

2011-10-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

BEEP stands for moving Eden Prairie schools Backward on Education, Equity, Progress.

BEEP is a sound effect. No, it’s a frame that Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol. No, it actually is an acronym for the candidates who support moving Eden Prairie's Elementary Schools Backward on, Education, Equity, Progress. A group of parents who support the BEEP candidates, most likely ones who are also members of two other anti-boundary changes groups, are calling themselves BEEP in support of four candidates running, two who voted against redistricting, Parker and Estall and two new candidates Bratrud and Espe, all have been unofficially endorsed by the local GOP. Essentially they want to undo the redistricting changes that have already shown the k through 6 gap in Eden Prairie narrowing. This was one of the goals of the redistricting plan put into effect in September after it was approved by the Eden Prairie School Board.

So, the redistricting plan is already beginning to work?

Not according to BEEP. Easily the loudest, most contentious group of parents, who suggest, though it’s hard to fathom, that they were never heard, that they feel maligned because their input was not considered. Well, the latter is a more realistic view. According to the record the school board meetings were as nasty-as-nasty gets with some parents in the audience using racial slurs.

Let’s talk real: BEEP has demonstrated that aren't interested in narrowing the low-income, low achievement gap, primarily because they haven't and are not talking about it. It does not seem to be their major concern. Does BEEP want to continue to isolate disadvantaged children? Well, BEEP parents don’t support candidates who approve of the redistricting plan. PERIOD. Replacing Krull and eliminating the new redistricting plan has been and is tops on the BEEP wants' list.

Holly Parker and John Estall were members of the School Board when the redistricting debate was ongoing. That makes them as accountable as anyone else on the Board for supposed miscommunication or failure to meet the demands of all parents. What makes them trustworthy now, because they both voted against redistricting? They were part of the process that resulted in the mistrust that BEEPS said existed between the school board and parents.

John Estall and Holly Parker have avoided addressing boundary changes, integration and all other seemingly uncomfortable topics. Do they think they should be reelected just because they essentially voted to keep disadvantaged children isolated?

When asked what the biggest issue is Parker doesn’t even mention redistricting. Parker says it’s all about who they hire as Superintendent: a pitch perfect response to BEEPS because they wanted Krull out.

That decision according to Parker will make all other problems BEEP, BEEP, BEEP us into integrated-scholastic tranquility. Well, she didn’t actually say that. One has to assume whoever the Superintendent is, she or he, will not support the redistricting plan as is. But, they should support our community’s values, according to Parker. What values is she talking about?

Neither Estall nor Parker are talking much about alternative plans for k through 6 that address equity. Neither Estall nor Parker has anything on their web sites to indicate that they’re focused on nurturing a multi-cultural community.

Those are the kinds of values we should want school board members to have.

Eden Prairie makes gains in eliminating imbalance k through 6

2011-10-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

But you’d hardly know it from the headlines in our two local papers or the comments on local forums which smack of insults, the kind of mumbo-jumbo you get from politicos, not parents, but most of all there are few facts.

Here’s an example:

“Puke!”

That’s what an Eden Prairie parent posted on PHL’s Facebook page in response to a farewell event in honor of Melissa Krull this weekend. Just more evidence that some parents in the community are stuck on character assassination, not the enrichment of all our children.

Does this sound at all like something an adult should say on a public forum? And if the adult speaks like this in public, what are they saying at home? What example are they setting for their children?

Preliminary data shows the effects of the new boundary changes identify that the gap has diminished considerably, but has a way to go. But, no one posting is talking about this.

The price the school paid for redistricting was the loss of 3.90% fewer students. From a budget standpoint the 136 fewer students that dropped because of the boundary changes will not negatively impact the budget, which allows for flexibility in enrollment.

That’s 136 out of 1,000 students who were involved in the boundary changes.

You’d think, from reading some of the things people say, that Krull and members of the school board who supported the boundary changes, intentionally “divided, mislead parents, and were self-righteous, contentious, social experimenters” and on…

Not a factoid in what is nothing but a bunch of slurs, emoticons/rants, and misinformation.

What we have here are uninformed parents who are unaware the city must meet housing goals by 2020 which on its own merit would alter the economic/racial mix at Eden Prairie’s schools.

Has there been one article in either of our local papers pointing this fact out? The answer is no. Will there be before the election on November 8^th? The answer is no.

Someone I talked to this week who seemed to be supportive of the view that things should remain as they are, told me people don’t like change. Imagine that. Ah, finally we get to the crux of the problem.

Our molecules change, everything in nature evolves and changes, we don’t go to 1^st grade our entire lives, we don’t fit into the same clothes, we change the way we cut are hair or what we eat for dinner…and on. Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, thought change existed everywhere and in everything: "You cannot step into the same river twice," he wrote.

Unfortunately the school administration received no help from the local press in all this insistence that change is unnatural, instead it has been and is something to be ridiculed via exaggerated exhortations as to change’s pernicious effects.

Evidently one of our local papers saw fit to visit the schools and interview children. This of course was and is not allowed. They wanted unfettered access. We know schools have very strict rules regarding visitation. The rebuff may have resulted in perpetuating the perception that the administration was uncooperative.

There are more stories like this. The problem is the local media isn’t telling them. They seem to think there’s only one side to the story, theirs.

http://assets.matchbin.com/sites/2180/assets/7M5C_Fall_2011_Enrollment_Update.pdf

A history lesson before we vote on November 8th

2011-10-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

History repeats…

1954 Brown V. Board of Education

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in 2003

School Boards across nation try to bring back segregation 2011

In the year-long conflict over boundary changes in Eden Prairie there has never been a city-wide discussion, an article in the Star Tribune or any of our local papers addressing what is not just a school problem but a housing problem in our community.

Here's a comment from a renter interested in buying in Eden Prairie from April 2007.

“I am currently renting, but am looking to buy a house in Eden Prairie. The educational quality is one of the major reasons I've chosen Eden Prairie, although my baby is only 4 months old.

By checking the 4 four public elementary schools in EP, I was surprised to see the much lower test scores of Forest Hills compared to those of the other three schools. More research revealed the much higher proportions of Black and Hispanic students in Forest Hills. But when I just compared the scores of the same ethnic groups of all the schools, Forest Hills is the worst, by a significant margin. Is this school really worse than the others? I thought schools in the same district should have comparable education quality. Do I really need to be concerned about the different test scores?”

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/minneapolis-st-paul/68995-elementary-schools-eden-prairie-minnetonka-apple.html#ixzz1abG1tQ7H

Sadly a local Eden Prairie realtor recently posted the position of parents against the redistricting plan, without giving both sides of the issue in an online presentation. This is in essence a return to the days when property owners, landlords and private clubs restricted access to non-whites through any means necessary, including disinformation or coercion.

· Eden Prairie has 79.8% low income families who live in rental situations where overcrowding exists in clustered areas of the city. So, the resulting economic/racial disparity is not only exemplified in the test scores, but in the geo-spatial make-up of the city.

· In order for Eden Prairie to make progress towards LUPA & LCA affordable housing goals by 2020 the city has its work to do. In 2010 Eden Prairie’s Metropolitan Council Housing score was only 46% out of a 100% in meeting this goal.

· The total African American population in Eden Prairie is only 2.3% of the city’s total population. Nationally the average is 12.30%.

If former Mayor Jean Harris was alive, I seriously doubt that she would stand idly by and allow Eden Prairie to renege on the goals she created during her tenure.

I was a member of the Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission when Jean Harris was Mayor. At the time, the commission members helped her create the Eden Prairie Manifesto.

Eden Prairie Manifesto

“That we, as representatives of Eden Prairie businesses, city government, educational and
Religious institutions, accept special roles and responsibilities in fostering diversity in our
community. We are dedicated to upholding the rights of every individual in our community
to freedom, dignity, and security regardless of religious affiliation, race, ethnic heritage, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, or economic status.Representing all sectors of Eden Prairie, we publicly declare our intentions:

• To continue the development of a multicultural community which will not tolerate acts of
harassment and intolerance;

• To establish, communicate and encourage community standards that respect diversity; and

• To promote acceptance and respect for individuals in an atmosphere of caring for others.

We are and remain intolerant of intolerance.”

I can attest to the reality of segregation because as a young girl I grew up next door to “Brownzeville,” a segregated part of Chicago’s south side that existed in the 1950’s when African Americans were restricted to black only neighborhoods and schools. In those days there were housing covenants controlled by property owners who made sure white neighborhoods and schools were kept that way. Once they outgrew the confines of what were essentially ghettoes, housing complexes rose up, creating another kind of isolation where low paying jobs and inferior schools were the norm.

At the time I never understood why my parents pulled me out of our neighborhood school to attend a private one and later moved our family out of the neighborhood entirely.

It all became clear to me more than 30 years later when voluntary busing replaced mandatory busing in Los Angeles and “white flight” resulted in my own son becoming one of only three white boys in a classroom of mostly Latino and African American children.

I learned history repeats...

I did not follow my parents’ example and pull my son out of his neighborhood school.

I don’t know if he remembers but most of the children in his class lived at least an hour away, so they never could come over to play after school. They were his school mates, not his play mates and that was entirely mystifying to him at the time. It was an imperfect solution from the stand-point of dissolving the kinds of barriers that create classism, separation by color, ethnicity or economics.

This November 8^th Eden Prairie voters, whether they have children in Eden Prairie schools or not, their vote will affect all of Eden Prairie’s children to have or not to have an equal opportunity to experience what Eden Prairie’s own mottos stand for, “LIVE WORK DREAM,” and “LIVE WELL.” A vote for candidates who are out-of-touch with the city’s LUPA & LCA affordable housing goals, who are not supportive of the “Eden Prairie Manifesto” would turn back the clock on integrating our schools and community.

Think this all sounds far-fetched? It’s not. School boards in Wakefield, North Carolina, in Williamsburg, Virginia, in Philadelphia Pa, and Montgomery County, Maryland and across the nation, are trying to do just that: turn back the clock on integration. The gist is not whether the kids are “walking,” or "bussed" to school, that's not the issue. It's a housing and school problem, a class and race problem that persists.

http://news.change.org/stories/naacp-nc-schools-are-bringing-back-segregation

Experts see the trends continuing. According to a Minnpost article, "Projections from the State Demographic Center show Minnesota's nonwhite population will grow by 35 percent between 2005 and 2015, while the white population will increase only 7 percent. Predictions show the Hispanic population will rise 47 percent."

"Challenges come in the wake of change. The problem is so complex it cannot be addressed by any single policy, rule or statute, said Cindy Lavorato, associate professor in St. Thomas University's School of Education. "Tentacles go in all directions: Poverty, racism, classism. It's a legacy of slavery."

"People would like to think that we have integrated housing and communities and things are all hunky-dory. But the truth is, we're not there yet,'' said state Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, who chairs the House Kindergarten through 12 Education Finance Committee.”

http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2008/11/17/4549/twin_cities-area_schools_more_segregated_than_ever

The facts are out there, yet there are many people in Eden Prairie who ignore them.

This is a critical time for Eden Prairie. Will the community go out and vote for candidates who only believe in the DREAM for some people?

Please vote November 8^th and remember your vote is for all Eden Prairie’s children.

Hennepin County Government Service Center in EP to Close

2011-10-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hennepin County Service Center July1st only one assistance station open

The Eden Prairie Service Center is due to close because it's not bringing in enough revenue according to Hennepin Comissioner Randy Johnson. I couldn’t help but recall the experience I had right before the July 4^th weekend. I accompanied my son to the Eden Prairie Service Center because he was in town visiting and needed to get a replacement passport. The line was long and there was only one person serving at least 25 customers who were waiting.

It turned out that the service center could not reissue him a passport, he had to do it downtown. Of course he didn’t have time to do that after waiting at the EP Service Center for almost an hour.

What struck me about that experience was the need we had locally to increase the kinds of services the service center provides so that trips out-of-the-area would become unnecessary particularly for Eden Prairie’s elders, the handicapped and mothers with small children.

Eliminating the local service center is unacceptable. Down size it and allow the building to be used for some other purposes, but don’t close it. If the issue is eliminating jobs, some of these positions could be filled via a volunteer program, training programs, or increasing services to cover the shortfall so that jobs will not be lost.

This week the Eden Prairie Post Office was resurfacing its entry and parking area. The ensuing rush to get to the postal drops resulted in all of them full to overflowing, since there was no inside access. Cars were lined up, residents were waiting to drop their mail, but no one could cram, not even a small envelope into several jammed-full mail drops.

To say that WE do not depend on the POST OFFICE and the local service center, that these are services we do not NEED, can live without, is not reality.

Our local area service center and post office are not just a matter of convenience, they are in a sense, a life-line for residents.

Only number #1 service desk at the Hennepin Service Center was staffed on July 1^st. All the other assistance personnel stations were closed. If you take a look at the list of job classifications on the Hennepin County web site, your immediate thought is HERE is a bureaucracy that needs to TRIM itself, but does not need to CUT services to the people it serves.

Email or call Randy Johnson and tell him government services are a life-line that people depend on. Don't ELIMINATE THEM, STREAMLINE THEM.

randy.johnson@co.hennepin.mn.us

612-348-7885

http://hennepin.us/portal/site/HennepinUS/menuitem.b1ab75471750e40fa01dfb47ccf06498/?vgnextoid=fae990f80d014210VgnVCM20000048114689RCRD

Q & A with Ali Kofiro of Eden Prairie

2011-10-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

1. What things need to change to make Eden Prairie Schools better?

There are a lot of good things going on in Eden Prairie Schools, but some subgroups are failing and the reason is very simple; the teachers and the community have very low expectations for these groups and if your teachers and your community think you’re stupid and their expectations of you is very low, then you’re out of luck. The negative attitude toward the minority children especially the ELL students should be changed then we will all be successful.

2.     What are the obstacles that Somali children face at school and in the community?

The Somali students have been isolated in specific classrooms from kindergarten to high school where adequate education is not provided. And because they hardly taste the really great stuff that is going on in the normal classrooms (AP, advanced, and enriched classes), they are always behind their peers, and they easily get frustrated and fall through the cracks.

3.    In selecting school board members is there any particular issue that’s critical to you in order to support them?

I will only support school board candidates who have been or will truly focus on student learning with no political ideologies in the back of their heads. Of course, I will not support anyone who is against integration. I will not support those who always talk about diversity and equity but when it comes to voting, vote against it. I will support those who will take us to the next level in this “diverse and changing world” and not backward.

4.     What kinds of Eden Prairie amenities do Somali children and families like best?

Parks, soccer fields, and the Eden Prairie community center

Lone Obama Protester Camps Out In Front of U.S. Post office in Eden Prairie

2011-10-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, as lemonade stands go, this one's an example of how difficult it is to be an entrepreneure, selling sour old bellyaching at a time when crowdsourcing and en masse demonstrations are the norm.

But, hey, free country. Inaffectual strategy: mostly passer-byes reported him to the police for a possible illegality.

Why he's bemoaning NASA cuts when the jobs, wages, and benefits of millions of Americans should come first, and why isn't he at work?

Republicans are generally anti-scientific when it comes to research on stem cells, climate change and any number of issues related to energy and human reproduction.

The fact is NASA funding which supports scientific exploration will still allow flexibility even with the cuts.

http://www.space.com/11411-nasa-2011-budget-cuts-constellation-funding.html

If you happen to be going to the post office-- help the guy out-- lend him some current reading material--like a copy of the Congressional Journal with Representative Issa's (R) (CA) bill that does away with the U.S. Postal Service, as we know it.

Minnetonka, the school of choice for families unhappy with redistricting, fails NCLB Testing

2011-10-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

New- What stands out about Edina and Minnetonka is they are among a handful of public schools with the lowest number of low income and limited english ratio of public schools in the METRO.

The core goal of The current No Child Left Behind law "requires that test scores increase in every school every year, to meet the requirement that 100 percent of students reach proficiency by 2014. According to a new research report, 31,737 of the 98,916 schools missed the law's testing goals in 2009, vastly more than any level of government can help to improve."

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html

Evidently Eden Prairie's test scores did improve and Minnetonka's did not.

Karla Bratrud puts foot in mouth again.

Running for Eden Prairie School Board and UNOFFICIALLY endorsed by the local GOP in Eden Prairie, she said on their web site that there is "NO ROOM FOR PERSONAL AGENDAS." She says the district needs to address the achievement gap “through academic solutions, instead of placing blame on the community.”

Eden Prairie beat out both Minnetonka and Edina in meeting NCLB goals.

Here's how these schools performed state-wide:
http://ww3.startribune.com/projects/no_child/?

1. Eden Prairie- passed and met the required goals
2. Minnetonka- DID NOT PASS WITH A WARNING
3. Edina- passed with a warning

Ironically, the parents who were upset with school boundary changes this year, who threatened a law suit and signed their children up for Minnetonka's public school, are now sending their kids to a school that did not pass NCLB testing and is on the warning list.

So much for academics. Were they even an issue?

The cumulative scores of children across the Metro measure the academic success of each school. Compared to most Metro area schools Eden Prairie has a higher ratio of low income and limited English students, particulary when compared to Minnetonka and Edina; yet they still increased their test scores this year.

There you go. If you made the decision to remove your children because of your concern for academic excellence, you should know that Minnetonka public schools failed to improve their test scores, as the NCLB requires. Now families will have to wonder if leaving the Eden Prairie School System was a good move for purely academic reasons?

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/130820063.html

About the tests:
Minnesota students in third through eighth grade take the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) in reading and math. In addition 10th-graders take a reading test and 11th-graders take a math test. Students need not make a certain score to go on to the next grade.

Private schools can choose whether to test their students. They are not required to report scores and demographic data.

Low-income: Percent of test-takers eligible for free or reduced lunch program.

Mobile: Test-takers new to the school since Oct. 1 of the school year.

Note: Half of the state's schools did not make the grade as reported by the Star Tribune.

Separate but equal schools were out in 1954, but E.P. School Board candidate Karla Bratrud wants to bring them back

2011-09-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Update- There were only 1,100 students in Eden Prairie directly involved in boundary changes out of 4,893 students from K to 6^th grade, (2011-2012 Eden Prairie School Budget Book). There were children who came back to Eden Prairie Schools this fall from private and charter schools and there were children who were not involved in the school boundary changes who left. The total number of children who left Eden Prairie Schools because of boundary changes stands at 44. This number could grow, but it will never constitute an “exodus” or a “mass migration,” terms that have been used in our local papers. (The Eden Prairie News printed incorrect numbers and failed to point that out when an EP resident asked a question which referred to the "Exodus" of students caused by the boundary changes.) Even if the final numbers leaving because of school boundaries are higher, and not attributable to attrition, they will never constitute anywhere close to a consensus of the families that comprise the K thru 6 elementary populations.

Candidates running for the school board and the local media must do a better job of transmitting critical information which puts the redistricting plan in perspective: families against redistricting are a very small percentage of the total families whose children attend Eden Prairie K thru 6 schools. Try to find this fact in any article written by Eden Prairie News or the Eden Prairie Sun Current staff. We can't.

Evidently Karla is transfixed by a dusty has-been notion that “separate but equal” is viable. She is either under the guise of a particular political ideology or she is uninformed, or all of the above. In fact it’s Karla who is going back 50, 60 years, revisiting the premise of “separate but equal." That it's OK if kids grow up in racial, social and economic isolation.

This is what Karla says on her web site about Boundary Changes:

“And the Boundary Changes? Boundaries were originally going to be adjusted to optimize usage of our various buildings, but the plan became a project of social engineering when the district decided to pursue identical socio-economic balance in each elementary school. This required us to bus students all over the city, an antiquated idea that most schools gave up on decades ago. As a current board member said back in 2007, “Instead of moving kids and families around, we need to support kids where they are”. I am a proponent of neighborhood schools, and so are most home buyers. As a board member, I would try to look for ways to move us back in that direction.”

The documentation against “separate but equal” is overwhelming. From American businesses, studies like the one done in Montgomery County, Maryland in 2001-2007 and a 2003 Supreme Court ruling, evidenced in a recent Minnpost article, all corroborate the view that socio-economics, race and culture in a vacuum is deleterious. This is not theoretical, but real-to-life. The article states that “Major American businesses have made clear that the skills needed in today's increasingly global marketplace can only be developed through exposure to widely diverse people, cultures, ideas, and viewpoints," according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003.”

Stefanie DeLuca, associate professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, who has studied the issue and read a recent report on the schools of Montgomery County, Maryland, said, "It's about the fact that we've had a legacy in this country of segregated neighborhoods and socioeconomic isolation from opportunities and the mainstream of life. This study turns that wisdom on its head to some extent. It says, actually, it's who you are going to school with."

Richard Kahlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, said, "This research suggests there is a much more effective way to help close the achievement gap. And that is to give low-income students a chance to attend middle-class schools."

According to the Washington Post, “researchers see the results as especially significant because Montgomery, one of the nation's best and largest public school districts with 144,000 students, has been uncommonly aggressive in seeking to improve the performance of students in schools with higher poverty.

It has divided the county into a high-performing, more-affluent green zone and a high-needs red zone, where schools receive about $2,000 more in per-pupil funding. And yet, the low-income students in the study performed better in the green-zone schools.”

So there you have it. The much maligned and disliked Superintendent of Eden Prairie schools, whose style and approach may have turned parents off, was on the right track when it came to understanding that it’s not just a school problem, it’s a neighborhood problem. Montgomery County is somewhat similar to Eden Prairie and other communities, in that socio-economic clusters, also usually identified by racial or ethnic similarities, separate low-income families from more affluent families.

Stefanie DeLuca referred to the disparity as “a legacy in this country of segregated neighborhoods and socioeconomic isolation from opportunities and the mainstream of life."

Karla Bratrud calls the remedy of placing children in schools with higher achieving students in middle class populations “social engineering.” It’s actually called integration. Karla’s terminology has surfaced of late in places where Republicans are fighting to eliminate integration.

Coincidence?

No. It’s happening all over the nation. Raleigh, North Carolina is just one example of longstanding integrated schools under attack by Republican school boards who say, “No, to what they describe as“social engineering.” The Raleigh school board is considering a system in which poor children are relegated to low-income neighborhood schools, moving away from its current policies where most schools have students from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds.”

Some of our neighbors may not want to hear this, but “housing policy is school policy,” as evidenced by the Century Foundation 2010 Report, which assessed Montgomery County schools. “The study’s supporters say it provides the strongest evidence yet that where a child lives has the biggest impact on his or her academic performance – not just because of the school, but because of the community.”

The president of the NAACP told the Washington Post in 2010 that the Republican school board is trying to reverse nationally praised longstanding school integration policies in Raleigh, North Carolina. He said they’re trying to “turn back the clock."

David Rusk, the former mayor of Albuquerque who is now a well-known consultant on education and urban policy said, “Where a child lives is the primary factor” in the quality of education, Rusk said. “Who are their classmates and who are their playmates?”

The consensus among researchers, consultants and experts that affirm Rusk, DeLuca and Kahlenberg’s findings is that solving the problem isn’t going to come from throwing more money at schools and teachers in low income neighborhoods. “Karla’s solution: “moving us back,” is doing just that. Moving us forward in the direction of schools that are not isolated is a step in the right direction, creating a “Geography of Opportunity.” Placing children in schools isolated by their sameness, which is advocated by voucher proponents, such as Senator David Hann, (R) Eden Prairie 42, is not creating “widely diverse people, cultures, ideas, and viewpoints,” sought by American businesses and the Global marketplace.

There were only 1,100 students in Eden Prairie directly involved in boundary changes out of 4,893 students from K to 6^th grade, (2011-2012 Eden Prairie School Budget Book). There were children who came back to Eden Prairie Schools this fall from private and charter schools and there were children who were not involved in the school boundary changes who left. The total number of children who left Eden Prairie Schools because of boundary changes stands at 44. This number could grow, but it will never constitute an “exodus” or a “mass migration,” terms that have been used in our local papers. Even if the final numbers leaving because of school boundaries are higher, and not attributable to attrition, they will never constitute anywhere close to a consensus of the families that comprise the K thru 6 elementary populations. Candidates running for the school board and the local media must do a better job of transmitting critical information which puts the redistricting plan in perspective: families against redistricting are a very small percentage of the total families whose children attend Eden Prairie K thru 6 schools. Try to find this fact in any article written by Eden Prairie News or the Eden Prairie Sun Current staff. We can't.

There are several new programs and initiatives by HUD and the Department of Education to resolve what is a housing and school policy problem which have mostly been met with opposition from Republicans. According to a recent piece in Time Magazine, “Grading the GOP Candidates on Education,” by Andrew J. Rotherham, who writes the blog Eduwonk, and is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, a nonprofit working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students, the Republican candidates for President received mixed reviews on their education policies. Karla’s own position, one that supports separate but equal, moving us backward, is akin to Ron Paul’s educational philosophy, which is one Rotherman says “would arguably move the country backwards in terms of school quality and equity.”

We can only judge Karla by her own words. If she wins in November she’s going to “move us back.”

Eyes wide shut: more noodling from Eden Prairie boundary contrarians

2011-09-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Parents against redistricting say it’s the quality of the Eden Prairie school board’s performance, not the actual boundary change that irks them. Anyone fall for this line, we were against it, before we weren’t?

Groups like “Yes for Neighborhood Schools” are against boundary changes and “Eden Prairie School Board Accountability” is all about opposition to redistricting. Hardly a coincidence, the board member they both want out, Kim Ross, voted for redistricting.

This becomes obvious when you visit our local GOP Senate District 42 web site. The local GOP caught blowback for endorsing; now they are essentially doing the same thing, but they’re calling it “unofficial.”

They even made a color- coded- chart, you think to help sway opinion, or not? The new candidates they support are in green- for- go, columns. The candidate running who supported boundary changes, Kim Ross, who they don’t support, is in the pink- for- no, column.

The green-for-go candidates, Bratrud and Espe, have photos, and links to their campaign web sites, which the local GOP says are provided for information purposes only.

But, hey, wait, there are no links for Ross who supports redistricting and other candidates running like Gunderson, Lapadat aren’t even included.

And Tim Fox, who has come out in public supporting redistricting, also got shunned.

Candidates who made the School Board Election green- for- go, pink- for- no chart have been clearly separated out by their positions against redistricting or in Kim's case, her vote in favor of redistricting.

In general, the anti-redistricting think is decidedly anti-authority, anti-change, but school board members are elected to represent everyone. Ultimately it is up to the school board to have the final say.

Parents with anti-redistricting mind-set suggest that common sense beats out research studies, that parents are the best judge of what’s good for their child, not school boards.

This is not the first time we’ve come across this anti-authority, anti-government ethos. If the prevailing direction isn’t palatable to them, they revert to the common sense, personal responsibility meme, instead of just being honest about why they don’t want the boundaries changed.

Many of them are willing to bus their children three times as far, and that's only one way. Why would someone do that? If they remained in Eden Prairie they'd have to take a bus a couple minutes out of their own neighborhood to another Eden Prairie school.

The anger once targeted at Melissa Krull has been transferred over to anyone on the school board who supported Krull’s plan and voted for redistricting. Thus these groups' Facebook posts eschew Ross for her support of redistricting.

Anti-redistricting deniers allege that Minnetonka doesn't recruit, even when evidence contrary to the fact has been out there since January in an article online at the Eden Prairie Sun by Paul Groessel.

“Minnetonka Schools aren't shy about recruiting students from other communities. Since 2002, they have had a strategic plan that includes promoting their programs and the district through local newspapers, advertisements and relocation guides.

For the last four years, they have run commercials on Minnesota Public Radio and Twin Cities Public Television.”

http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2011/01/26/eden_prairie/news/1ep27enrollment.txt

At least the Eden Prairie Sun got that right. But, when Paul Groessel called the response to the boundary changes a “Mass-out Migration over boundary lines,” he was incorrectly referring to numbers of families leaving the district because of boundary changes, which on record, to date, is 44, thereby adding flames to a fire fueled by fishy numbers and fear mongering.